The Red State

Mary Alice Cisneros to run for SA City Council

Mary Alice Cisneros, wife of former San Antonio mayor and HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros, will be running for San Antonio City Council District 1. She will be making her official announcement this Saturday, January 6.

Ok, so that seat is done. No, seriously who on earth would run against her? Not to say she isn't qualified... Given her background and history with the city, she will make a fine addition to San Antonio's city council.

One thing though, I would have them clean up their website a bit.

Ciro Rodriguez bows out

A little birdie just told me that potential CD 23 candidate and former Congressman Ciro Rodriguez will not run for Congressional District 23. This was announced at the local AFL-CIO meeting tonight by Ciro himself.

I suspect it has something to do with the inability to raise enough money in a short period of time. It looks like this race will be between Lukin Gilliland and Henry Bonilla.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it seems we have a horse race.

UPDATE: The Quorum Report is confirming that Ciro is out of the race. The question now becomes will his name be removed from the ballot. If Rodriguez' name remains on the ballot, then it puts the Southside (of San Antonio) vote in flux. There will be two known names, Uresti and Rodriguez, that will pull votes away from Bonilla. However, to win you will need crossover votes from the more conservative parts of the district. Will Gilliland be able to capitalize from this situation? Maybe.

I tend to think this will help Lukin Gilliland. This should be fun race.

Possible Candidate for CD 23?

There has been lots of talk of who will run against Republican Henry Bonilla for Congressional District 23. The list includes Ciro Rodriguez (much to many people's chagrin), Rick Bolanos, Kyle Kincaid, former San Antonio mayor Ed Garza, state Rep. Pete Gallego, Julian Castro, "City Councilman Richard Perez, who represents the Southwest Side; Richard Gambitta, a political scientist and chairman of the political science and geography department at the University of Texas at San Antonio; and Albert Uresti, a retired San Antonio Fire Department district chief and brother of state Rep. Carlos Uresti."

A new and interesting name has popped up. Local restaurateur Lukin Gilliland Jr. is reported to be expressing an interest.

"I'm kicking this around," he said this week, but declined to comment further.   

Several Democratic activists said Gilliland, 54, had been making the rounds of potential supporters for days. "Lukin's talking to a lot of people, making a lot of phone calls," local Democratic consultant JoAnn Ramon said.

Gilliland is not shy in giving money to Democrats and their causes. The Texas Ethics Commission reports that Gilliland has given over $31,000 in the past 6 years. The Federal Election Commission reports that he has given over $100,000 in the past 9 years. Given that the Bonilla has $2 million in the warchest, being able to self fund early on is important. Unfortunately for Ciro Rodriguez, I think people are tired and burned out giving to Ciro whose last race against Henry Cuellar was a complete failure, in spite of some impressive netroots support.

While this a winnable district, it only can be won with the Democrats uniting behind one candidate. Give Ciro's track record and missed opportunities, many are looking for someone else to climb this mountain. I hope people's hubris will not get in the way of a Democrat winning this seat (ahem, you know who you are...). There is nothing wrong with taking one for the team.

As of Friday, August 18, only Bonilla has filed. The deadline to file with the Secretary of State for CD 23 is Friday, August 25, 2006 at 5:00 p.m.

Anti-FOIA study exposed & stalled

Link: MySA.com: St. Mary's grant in limbo.

Who has the money? Who's giving the money? What's happening to the money?

Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government. ~Thomas Jefferson

After the negative press from the announcement that St. Mary's Law School was receiving $1 million from the DoD to study "how to limit the Freedom of Information Act," the Air Force Research Laboratory suddenly admits is won't administer the project.

The laboratory states that the project is more of a "policy project than bona fide research."

Shocking!

<-- Here we have the Air Force Research Lab saying that its a poilical push rather than an academic endevour.

The research group manages all basic scientific research funded by the Air Force, soliciting proposals from academic institutions for work in fields such as chemistry, physics, mathematics and computer science, according to its Web site.

The St. Mary's proposal "doesn't fit with the information research and development that we do," Emlin told Secrecy News.

So, why would we trust the director, Addicott, or the Center to have a true research study when the Air Force doesn't believe it can? Frankly, I do not trust him or the Center to protect our freedom nor the good name of my alma mater.

I hope the University and it's president, Dr. Charlie Cotrell, see the error of allowing such a controversial and wrong headed-project to continue.

To help, read the petition (pdf) and sign it by sending your name to giveitbackstmarys@gmail.com

How about a little James Madison to cap the post? I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.

San Antonio candidate, Barbara Scharf-Zeldes, unveils 1st deaf accessible campaign in US

Barbara ScharfZeldes, candidate for Probate Court #2 in Bexar County (San Antonio), recently unveiled the "first website of a political candidate in the nation to be deaf and hard of hearing accessible." The site will offer sign language for deaf and hard-of-hearing visitors.

Members from the deaf community, who have felt disenfranchised from the political process, will also be registering to vote as part of the announcement. By registering, they hope to send a message that they will support candidates who believe in equal access to the political process for all people. In San Antonio, an estimated 116,000 people are deaf or hard of hearing.

Most people mistakenly believe that if one communicates information in writing to a person who is deaf, they will understand what is being written. Statistics indicate that sign language is the primary vehicle for communication for the deaf and that most people who are deaf only read on a second or third grade level. This misinformation has been a major obstacle to participation in the electoral process for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Now, that is really reaching out to all the voters. I guess it is also the nature of the court. Probate courts deal with will & estates, appoint guardian ad litems for a orphaned children, address eminent domain issue (i.e. when the government wants to condemn your private property for public use) and determines  who get committed to get help for mental health problems.

For the last 13 years, Barbie has been an attorney for San Antonio police officers and firefighters and their familes. She has guided them through the difficult issues surrounding wills, their estates, and guardianships for seniors and children.

I can personally vouch for Barbie. She very qualified and thoughtful person. If you ever in probate court, it is usually because of a life altering event. I can't think of a better person to fill such an important judicial position in the community. (See biography here)

Check out her website and help her out: www.voteforbarbie.com

 

DOD gives grant to limit the Freedom of Information Act

Link: MySA.com: St. Mary's to study limits on info law.

The Department of Defense is giving St. Mary's University School of Law a $1 million dollar grant to study "ways to limit the scope of the Freedom of Information Act [FOIA], a landmark open government law that celebrated its 40th anniversary Tuesday."

The Freedom of Information Act promotes accountability and transparency in government by allowing normal citizens the right to attend government meetings and to access to government records.

Former Army Special Forces and legal adviser to the Green Berets, Prof. Jeffrey F. Addicott will head the efforts to limit the Freedom of Information act. I took a Administrative Law course from Addicott about 5 years ago. The one thing that I distinctly remember was that he seemed hostile to the FOIA. He believed that it granted too much access to information, that it was only good for businesses trying to find out info on other businesses and that normal people didn't use it anyway.

So let me tell ya, I am very reassured that he will protect our ability to hold our government accountable.

"The mission is to balance increase in security with civil liberties, which are precious," said Addicott, a former legal adviser in the Army Special Forces. But "in a time of war, balance goes toward security." [emphasis added]

This reminds me of torture boy's, Alberto Gonzalez, attempt to give legal cover on torture. Where is Addicott on torture? He says "I will say it this way: the American military does not torture. "

Yeah.... my alma mater involved in limiting freedoms... nice...

Others have there concerns as well:

 

Paul McMasters, a public information expert at the First Amendment Center in Arlington, Va., said reconciling discrepancies in law "is not a bad idea."

"But for this to be done at the direction of a federal agency where secrecy is paramount and where confusion is frequent gives one pause," he added.

....

   

Randy Sanders, president of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas and retired editor of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, sharply criticized the project.

"It seems like we're just losing all our freedoms in the name of homeland security, and I just wonder where the real threat is," he said. "We're not going to keep terrorists from finding out about power plants and water supplies by tightening the Freedom of Information Act."

McMasters made a similar point, saying the best security often comes from public pressure to fix weaknesses once they are exposed.

"We are not restricting anything from those seeking to harm us," he said, "but we are keeping in the dark the citizenry who might generate pressure to reduce vulnerabilities."

San Antonio now 7th largest city

According to the census, San Antonio has surpass San Diego, CA in population.

Overall, San Antonio grew by about 105,000 from 2000 to 2005, the report showed.

The reasons for San Antonio's growth boil down to one key factor: prosperity, said Ray Perryman, an economic researcher in Waco. He pointed to the city's ability to lure the new Toyota plant and Washington Mutual, coupled with high birth rates, as causes for the growth.

"When you are perceived as a place that has a lot of opportunities, people are going to move there," Perryman said. 

From July 2004 to July 2005, San Antonio's population grew by 21,420 people, with 1,256,509 people living within the city limits. During the same period, San Diego's population dropped by 8,276 people to 1,255,540, according to the report.

I'm partly to blame. I moved back here for work (and that Houston refineries kept blowing up).

This is why I think the City of San Antonio is so important. The population in SA is what our country may look like in 30 years. We have a growing and more upwardly mobile Hispanic population. If the demographers are correct, the U.S. will become browner in a relatively short time. Personally, I think it will be become more like a mocha latte but that may be because I need caffeine.

Texas' population is predicted to reach 25 million, up from 22.9 million today, by the 2010 census. How we run this city and even this state can be instructive to how to deal with such growth and cultural changes in our country.

 

Mayor Phil Hardberger said overall it's good news that San Antonio is now bigger than San Diego, at least according to the latest estimate, but he's aware that sometimes when cities get bigger, they also get worse.

"In fact, probably more get worse than get better," Hardberger said. "So what we want is to keep the balance between growth and quality of life."

Having amenities such as green space, clean water and good streets makes people happy, he said, and keeps them here.

The true colors of the Texas Republican Party

I guess you can file this under "I told you so."

With the Texas Republican Party in the former pueblo San Antonio de Padua, party officials have set our their positions. Their positions are hateful, racist and disrespectful of human dignity.

Texas Republicans want to:

• build a wall between the U.S. and our neighbor Mexico (similar to the wall Reagan asked Gorbachev to tear down),
• hunt down the 12 million undocumented workers in the this country and return them to their country of origin (if this administration couldn't evacuate New Orleans, how are they going to expel 12 million people?),
• pull the National Guard from fighting the war on terrorism and make them Border Patrol,
• "not violate the constitutional rights of citizens of the United States" but purposefully say nothing about the rights of the undocumented, those here on work visas or anyone other than a citizen (FYI: The Constitution of the U.S. extends its protection to more than just U.S. citizens),
• prevent those who have become citizens of the U.S. from bringing in their families thus destroying the fabric of society: familial relationships (they believe in family values but only if you not an immigrant),
• deny earned citizenship for immigrants,
• deny the natural right to be a citizen if you are born on U.S. soil (guess no one will check your papers if you are white),
• make local police an arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency causing distrust of the police and prevent the reporting of crime against undocumented persons.
• remove day labor centers, and
• deny medical treatment to undocumented persons (does every get asked for papers or just the brown people).

There you have folks! That is what the Texas Republican Party stands for.... fear, hate, racism, classism and general disdain for basic human rights.

You are in San Antonio this weekend. So say it loud and say it proud because us Latinos are listening and we will remember.

San Antonio tomorrow: Dems call Republicans out on their wedge issues

From a TDP release:

Democratic State Representatives Joaquin Castro (HD-125), Trey Martinez Fischer (HD-116), and Jose Menendez (HD-124) of San Antonio will hold a press conference   Friday, June 2nd at 10:00 am to call on Governor Rick Perry and the Republican Party of Texas to stop their election year gimmicks and truly work to solve the problem of illegal immigration.

“It is disrespectful for Rick Perry and the Republican Party to use the immigration debate as a wedge issue to divide Texans,” the Democratic Representatives said.  “Republicans are clearly split on this issue and have profoundly failed to provide meaningful solutions to the immigration debate.  What they claim to be public policy amounts to nothing more than a band-aid approach that deals with the issue symbolically and not realistically.”

WHO:       Democratic State Representatives Joaquin Castro, Trey Martinez Fischer and                 Jose Menendez

WHERE:    Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center
                200 E. Market Street
                San Antonio, Texas 78205
                (At the corner of Alamo and Market.)

WHEN:      Friday June 2, 2006
                10:00am

The Republicans will be here in full force tomorrow. So, are they going to get confused with "all them brown people" just walking around like they own the place? Here's a little hint: A lot of us were here before this was Texas.... sorry but its true.

I am okay with the Republican's rhetoric. Please say it in SAN ANTONIO. It they were honest they would say "We would really like you brown folks to vote for us but don't expect us to respect you... you are brown you know... and stay away from my daughter."

Madla quits and leave SD19 without representation

Link: MySA.com: Madla to quit state Senate.

I heard this was coming but thought it was only a rumor.

Sen. Frank Madla, who lost the Democratic primary to Rep. Carlos Uresti, said Monday he will leave office May 31.      

The move will leave his District 19 seat vacant until the November general election because Gov. Rick Perry doesn't intend to call an earlier special election, a spokeswoman said.

How dare the Governor not call a special election. Senate District 19 deserves representation no matter what the Governor is planning on doing. It reminds me of how Perry delayed and delayed the calling of a special election when Rep. Joe Moreno died.

Pathetic.

Why would Madla leave the lucrative job of Senator that makes $7,200 a year? He says after 33 years, he finally wants to put his family first. OK, worked for Karen Hughes, so why not him. However, I think the early retirement is for a different reason.

It appears Madla's retirement would top $94,000 annually.

So, instead of finishing the job he was initially elected to do, he will leave SD 19 without a Senator (I am sure he knew what Gov. Goodhair would do) and he will start pocketing his $7,833 a month earlier. If he truly cared about his district, he would have made sure the Governor would have called for a special election immediately.

Nice. What a shining example of statesmanship and leadership. I can't wait for Uresti to take that office. Who says good guys finish last?

Postscript: Pinkdome find one more reason to post that picture