StoutDemBlog

Political And Other Miscellany From A Stout Democrat In Dallas Texas.
"Politics is the only game for adults." --from Robert A. Heinlein's Double Star

Monday, July 30, 2007

Obama In Dallas Today

Presidential contender Senator Barack Obama is in Dallas today for a fundraiser, at $250 per head. An RSVP is required, and you can pay on line, at this page. The event will be from 5:30 to 7:30 PM at Gilley's, 1135 S. Lamar, Dallas.

Dallas Exec Com To Meet August 18

The Executive Committee of the Dallas County Democratic Party will be meeting on Saturday, August 18, 2007, at 10am at the Communications Workers of America Hall at 1408 North Washington, Dallas 75204.

This is our official 3rd quarter meeting. The primary purpose of this meeting will be the consideration of the Advisory Committee's recommendation regarding the Dallas County Democratic Party's policy on resolutions relating to Endorsements, Warnings and Issues.

If you have any questions, please contact Steve Tillery at the Dallas County Democratic Party office at 214-821-8331. Thank you for your dedication to the Democratic Party. I look forward to seeing you at the August 18th Executive Committee meeting!
--Sincerely,
Darlene Ewing, Chair

Dallas To Vote On The Trinity Project

Yesterday the Dallas City Secretary certified that the supporters of a referendum on the proposed Trinity River project did turn in more than enough valid petition signatures (80,000 to meet a requirement of only 48,000). The City Council must now either pass the petitioner's own proposal (very unlikely), or put that on the November ballot.

There will no doubt be a big and ugly fight over this between the two sides, and we'll get to hear a lot more about the issue. The web site of the petitioners is at www.trinityvote.com, and the site of those opposed to voting on this is at www.savethetrinity.net/.

Lots Of Amendments This November

The Secretary of State has posted a list of all the proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution which will be on the ballot statewide this Tuesday, November 6. I count
the absurd total of sixteen of them. This is because our state Constitution, unlike most others, requires amendments for almost any small change, including relatively ordinary state bond issues (several of which are included in this list). You can see the short titles of each proposal at this page.

No doubt we'll hear more later on the pros and cons of all of these from the usual sources like the League of Women Voters and various consumer and business groups. Unless there is a hidden "sleeper" provision in one of these, there doesn't seem to be one that will generate an angry fight like the one over banning gay marriage a couple of years ago.

Perhaps the most interesting proposal, which shows again how far behind other states Texas government remains, is the second one, HJR 19, which is "to require that a record vote be taken by a house of the legislature on final passage of any bill..." Yes, right now they get to vote anonymously on this stuff. Putting them on the record has been advocated at least as far back as the 1960s, when current DCDP Precinct Chair Jean Ball ran for the legislature with this plank in her platform. Welcome to the nineteenth century, Texas legislature. Coming soon: they'll install electric lights in the House chamber.