The Texas Observer

Perhaps the most notable thing about the “Sovereignty or Secession” rally at the state Capitol today was the absence of any remotely mainstream speakers. That little problem in presentation did not escape the event’s organizers from the Texas Nationalist Movement. In fact, several speakers bitterly complained that neither Gov. Rick Perry nor a single one of the 70-plus supporters of Rep. Brandon Creighton’s HCR 50, a resolution asserting Texas’ “sovereignty” from the federal government, made an appearance.

Back in April, Perry flirted with the idea of secession when he told reporters after a Tax Day tea party event: “There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve [the Union]. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that.”

Even for a governor who frequently plays to the more extreme elements in the Texas GOP, it was a gobsmackingly ‘out there’ remark. But it certainly did wonders for the secession crowd—long a totally marginal and ridiculed group with about as much chance of capturing the mainstream imagination as the LaRouche cult.

The turnout for the rally wasn’t huge—200 would be a generous estimate—but it was enough to show how much Perry has helped galvanize and embolden the right wing “hate America” fringe. After all, the governor of the second most populous state in the nation had suggested that secession was a possible solution to federal over-reach. Republican political leaders have helped bring “death panels” and the Obama birth certificate nonsense into acceptable discourse; Perry’s contribution has been bringing secession into the mix.

Daniel Miller (pictured below, at top), the leader of the Texas Nationalist Movement and the only speaker who had the slightest ability to make secession sound like anything other than just complete lunacy, recounted the April 15 tea party rally in Austin and what it meant to the secessionist movement.

“When [Perry] was giving a speech and the crowd began to shout what? – Secede! Secede! Secede! – that’s what they chanted. So they asked him afterward, What do you think? He said, Well we reserve that right; if things get so bad we reserve the right to leave. And I gotta tell you it’s the first solid thing he’s done in his administration that I can agree with in many, many years.”

So the secession leaders were a little peeved that they couldn’t get their good friends in the Texas GOP to show up today. After all, Fox News is paying attention: Miller was a guest on the Glenn Beck Program on June 23, discussing the possibility of Texas seceding.

Though Perry and the “pro-sovereignty” legislators didn’t show for the rally, Miller said, “I want them to hear this loud and clear: It is time for them to take up that banner and it’s time for them to take the lead and if they do not, if they do not pick up that banner and carry it high, then we will.” Upon which Miller dashed out into the crowd, took hold of a “Come and Take It” flag, and continued his exhortations. Along with other speakers, he called for a special session of the Legislature—next week—to take up the sovereignty-or-secession debate in earnest.

The organizers are trying to set up a time to deliver a petition to Perry demanding that Texas officials either “immediately move for the restoration of the complete and unadulterated Sovereignty of Texas, explicitly adhering to the 10th Amendment wording of the U.S. Constitution,” or “move immediately for complete Secession from the United States of America.”

Instead of Perry or Creighton, the protesters had Larry Kilgore, a “Christian activist” and candidate for governor who has endorsed executions for homosexuals; Debra Medina, a Ron Paul Republican and a slightly-less long-shot candidate for governor; and Melissa Pehle-Hill, yet another fringe candidate and a member of a self-appointed “citizens grand jury” investigating Barack Hussein Obama, aka Barry Soetoro.

The audience of about 200 people included tattoed bikers wearing Confederate memorabilia, Alex Jones conspiracy theorists carrying those Obama-as-Joker signs, lots of older guys in Texas flag shirts and blue jeans, Ron Paul activists, and others.

Kilgore, dressed in starched blue jeans and a cowboy hat, drew some murmurs of disapproval when he launched into a rant against the U.S.

“I hate that flag up there,” Kilgore said pointing to the American flag flying over the Capitol. “I hate the United States government. … They’re an evil, corrupt government. They need to go. Sovereignty is not good enough. Secession is what we need!”

“We hate the United States!,” he said later in the speech. (And they say leftists are America-bashers!)

Medina chipped in: “We are aware that stepping off into secession may in fact be a bloody war. We are aware that the tree of freedom is occasionally watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots.”

For his part, Kilgore assured the crowd that violence wouldn’t be necessary to secede. Instead, the U.S. would just split up like the USSR did in 1991.

After the rally, lingering secessionists clashed with pro-health reformers holding another rally at the Capitol. Kilgore was seen yelling at some pro-health care reform advocates to “Go back to the U.S. where you belong.”

Secession, the speakers argued, was more important than ever because of the Obama administration. Health care reform, the auto industry and Wall Street bailouts, cap-and-trade legislation, etc, etc – all this “change” is driving people already predisposed to mistrust a Democratic administration to new heights of apoplectic rage.

“If either one of them passes [cap-and-trade or health care reform], we have no option but to go for secession,” said Hill. “Texas is not comprised of people willing to allow Barack Obama and his czars to tax us into bankruptcy while Michelle Obama and her 26 aides live it up on our dime.”

Like any movement, the secessionists have their own reading of history and the law. There was much talk about the true and correct reading of the Constitution, implied powers, Thomas Jefferson’s writings on tyranny and government. One guy even started reading from Black’s Law Dictionary. But the references to the Confederacy were the most telling.

At one point, Miller drew the crowd’s attention to the statue of Lady Liberty on top of the Capitol.

“When they raised her to the top of this Capitol they wanted to face her south so she would forever have her back turned to that nation to the north that knew not liberty,” he told the almost entirely white crowd.

And they wonder why Perry and friends didn’t show up. Even for our governor, these people are toxic.

John Hall, a regulator-turned-lobbyist, is gunning hard for the top job at the regional EPA office. Like Zelig, Hall’s been showing up everywhere—in D.C. to plead his case with the feds, in Port Arthur, Austin and Corpus Christi to try to and convince community activists and enviros to back off their criticism of of him.

Hall’s problem—perhaps an insurmountable one—is that he’s gotten very rich exploiting the revolving door between industry and government. Since 1997, following his tenure (’91-’95) as chairman of the state environmental agency, then called the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission (TNRCC, or “trainwreck”), he’s earned up to $6.3 million lobbying for refineries, chemical companies and landfill outfits. This lucre has enabled Hall to own a 7,600 square-foot mansion in West Austin valued at $3.25 million.

Hall was the first African-American to head TNRCC but his track record there didn’t exactly impress many in the environmental justice community. For example, in 1995 Hall voted to approve—over the objections of hundreds of citizens and an administrative law judge—the dramatic expansion of a landfill in Ferris, Texas, a largely black community near Dallas. The dump, owned by garbage giant Waste Management of Texas, practically swallowed Ferris. Many residents have since fled the town’s stench and pollution. Two years after approving the Waste Management dump expansion, Hall left TNRCC and went to work as a lobbyist for Waste Management. From 1997 to 2009, Hall earned between $625,000 and $1.25 million from the company, according to Texans for Public Justice.

In 1997, one of Hall’s TNRCC colleagues, public interest counsel Mark Alvarado, told a Texas House committee that Hall’s main interest was pleasing the industries the agency regulated. From an April 11, 1997 Observer article by former editor Lou DuBose:

Mark Alvarado stood up, was sworn in, and began to explain what environmentalists have alleged, industry lobbyists deny, but no public official dares say in a public forum—and certainly not under oath. That is: that the TNRCC—the single agency that stands between the public and environmental health hazards—doesn’t consider the public its client.

“I was there for six years and I heard it time and time again,” Alvarado, the agency’s former public interest counsel, said. “The primary client of the TNRCC is the industry it regulates.”

[…]

It’s more than personality, Alvarado explained. “I can point to the changes in procedural rules, changes in the permitting process, changes in organization,” he said. “There are policy decisions, access to management.”

Several environmental activists around the state told me that Hall has been emphasizing his public affairs consulting gig and downplaying his lobby work.

“He tried to justify working for industry, [saying] that he worked to bring the community and industry together to work on their issues,” said Suzie Canales, a refinery reform advocate in Corpus Christi. “I don’t believe that but even if it was true he was still getting a paycheck from the polluters. How can you be neutral ever again?”

Hall’s pitch has apparently worked on others. Hilton Kelley is an indefatigable organizer in Port Arthur, a town constantly dealing with toxic emissions from its high concentration of petrochemical and refining facilities. Recently, Hall and Kelley sat down for a face-to-face.

“What I told him was, ‘John I really don’t trust you’, I told him that straight out,” said Kelley. “’One minute you’re working for TNRCC and the next minute you’re working for industry helping them to circumvent what community activists are doing.’”

But, Kelley now says that he thinks he might be the man for the job.

“If I had to pick one of the lesser evils I would go with John Hall because I think he has a better working knowledge when it come to refineries, chemical plants and underground injection wells.”

Brigid Shea, a former Austin City Councilman who runs an environmental consulting firm, said she thinks Hall is trying to drive a wedge between environmental justice activists and the more mainstream groups.

Some prominent environmental groups are taking a studiously neutral stance. Sierra Club, for example, has neither endorsed nor rejected Hall while signaling that they are eager for a change. Neil Carman said that the issue of who would lead EPA Region VI, which includes Texas, didn’t come up at a May meeting with EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, but he said they told her that Texas was “under siege” and needed real environmental enforcement. “She got the message. She said this is like the Battle of the Alamo.”

Cynthia Dunbar is the gift that keeps on giving. When she’s not rooting science out of the state’s science curriculum in her capacity as a Texas State Board of Education member or penning books subtitled “How the Left is Trying to Erase What Made Us Great,” she’s accusing Barack Obama of plotting with terrorists to destroy America.

It’s just the latest funny-if-it-wasn’t-so-scary outrage from the obscure, but powerful board of education. Dunbar and her cohorts set curriculum and textbook standards for students in Texas’ public schools.

If you recall, Dunbar got pummeled for an inflammatory anti-Obama article she wrote in November for the outer wingnut site Christian Worldview Network. Despite widespread condemnation, Dunbar has stood by her statement, telling the AP “Those are my personal opinions.”

More of Dunbar’s personal opinions have surfaced. In a column published in the Church Report Online — which may or may not be edited by the Church Lady; we’re checking on that — in September, Dunbar lobbed another screed from the fringes of the Christian Right.

The article is humbly titled: “Barack Hussein Obama would make a great Leader… of an Unconstitutional, Infanticidal, Communistic, Dictatorial Regime.”

In the article, she labels Obama “barbaric” for his stance on abortion rights and compares him to Hitler. But Obama’s not just the most extreme pro-choice candidate ever, she writes in typically understated style, but is “more like a totalitarian dictator that wants the authority to inflict death wherever he deems it appropriate.” (Maybe his first act as President will be demanding that Congress pass the President’s License to Kill Act.)

To show that Obama is a danger to the Constitution she cites a specious lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania by attorney and Internet fringe hero Philip Berg. Berg titled his suit Philip J. Berg, Esq. v Barack Hussein Obama aka Barry Soetoro aka Barry Obama aka Barack Dunham aka Barry Dunham, et al.

“Without even reading the details of the case wouldn’t you wonder, who in the world is this man we are considering for our Commander and Chief?,” Dunbar asked. (Note that Dunbar, a graduate of Pat Robertson’s Regent University Law School and self-described constitutional scholar, thinks the Constitution designates a Commander and Chief, not a Commander in Chief.)

As a final pearl of wisdom, Dunbar warns that her right to publish loony-bin crap on the Internet may be in danger under Chief Obama. “I’d wager this will be one of the first freedoms we will loose [sic] should the Obama Gestapo come knocking at our doors.”

Deidre Rasheed, Democratic field organizer in Harris County, has been having an anxious night. She’s a professional organizer but that doesn’t mean she’s not emotional about the results. Nothing is coming in fast enough. “Pennsylvania!” she yells at 7:40 p.m., as CNN and ABC call the state for Obama. Rasheed volunteered for Obama in Pennslvania, canvassing door-to-door, and she remembers having people say they’re weren’t going to vote for no nigger. The hatred still burns in her mind.

“Girl, how old are you?” says an older woman guarding the gate to the phone room. “Thirty-seven,” Rasheed  says. “You mean you don’t know about hate?” the older woman says, laughing about it. “That hate has always been around.” Maybe she would have to laugh about it after growing up in segregation all those years and now seeing the first African American in history elected president of the United States.

I spent a couple of hours yesterday talking to two community organizers in Houston’s heavily African American Fifth Ward, Bob Lee and David Benson. We went over the history of the Fifth Ward for a while. Then they got to recalling segregation. When Bob was about 6 or 7, in the early 1950s, his mother dressed up and walked from the nightclub she ran on Lyons Avenue — Lee’s Congo Bar—and headed to Armstrong drug store to vote. In those days the white poll watchers set up voting booths in the Fifth Ward, but that didn’t mean everybody could vote. Bob’s mother left him outside to play and when she came out she was crying. She never voted before she died in 1970.

Benson and Lee talked about the terror their parents felt back then, how worried they were if their boys didn’t phone in and let them know where they were. They were matter of fact about it, but still angry. They had lived in terror.

So when they asked me why I wanted to be in the Fifth Ward when Obama wins the election, I choked up. I couldn’t speak. They sat quietly until I pulled myself together.

There’s a celebration going on here now, as well there ought to be. Ohio just went to Obama. It’s all over.

There’s yelling and screaming and applause outside and inside. I don’t believe for a moment that our racial problems are solved with this election. Obama is not a black man, Lee and Benson told me. He is a mix of us all. And he’s where he is because of the efforts of a lot of people before him.

Bob Lee brought up Obama’s grandparents, those white Kansans who raised him and loved him. “We should kiss those grandparents,” he said.

–Michael Berryhill

Yeah, a little.

Early votes totals for Travis County:

McCain/Palin: 97,527     32.77%

Obama/Biden: 197,034 66.21%

Those figures will change as election day returns come in but it’s like Obama said when he visited Austin in February: “Something about me and Austin, I don’t know. We just get along.”

Election Day is here at last. Election officials are expecting huge turnout across the state. Texas, of course, isn’t in play in the presidential race, and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn is expected to capture a second term. But there’s a lot at stake in down-ballot state races today.

We’ll bring you updates throughout the late afternoon and evening. We have reporters covering the election in Houston, Dallas, Brownsville, and Austin.

Perhaps the biggest prize is the Texas House. Democrats need to gain five seats today to reclaim a majority in the 150-seat chamber and end the speakership of Midland Republican Tom Craddick. A five-seat pickup would give Democrats a 76-74 advantage. A few weeks ago, that seemed a longshot, though party activists have become increasingly confident recently that they can pull it off. Democrats seem likely to gain 2-5 seats in the House (one interesting scenario would be a four-seat pickup that would result in a 75-75 tie). You can read our breakdown of the hottest Texas House races here. In our Nov. 28 print issue, reporter Patti Kilday Hart will chronicle the speaker’s race that starts, with backroom meetings and politicking, as soon as the results are in.

Republicans will retain control of the Texas Senate, though Democrats hope to pick up two or three Senate seats: in Fort Worth, Wendy Davis may topple Sen. Kim Brimer; in southeast Texas, Sen. Mike Jackson has a tough race with attorney Joe Jaworski; and in a special election to replace Sen. Kyle Janek in suburban Houston, former gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell is running against four opponents, including three Republicans.

There are four close Congressional races to keep an eye on (details here).

We’ll also be watching three contested races for the Texas Supreme Court. Republicans currently hold all nine Supreme Court seats.

And then there are the big-picture questions: How many of the nearly three million Democratic primary voters will return for the general? Will Obama supporters vote for down-ballot Democrats? Will Republicans hold on to power in Harris County?

We’ll have answers to some of these questions in a few hours.

This week the Sacramento County, California, Republican Party had to yank from its Web site some highly offensive content, including a call to “Waterboard Barack Obama” and a statement that “The Only Difference Between Obama and Osama is BS.” Pretty bad stuff.

But never think that California can out-wingnut Texas.

Take for example the Web site of the Hays County GOP. There you will find a John Birch Society-style menu of far-right fantasies, racially-charged videos, and some bizarro conspiracy theories. Under the banner “Things You Need to See Today” is a link entitled “Understanding Obama: The Making of a Fuehrer.” That leads to an essay on a site called Faithfreedom.org that compares Obama to Hitler and Khomeini. The author thinks Obama has something called a narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). Here’s a choice passage:

From Saddam to Osama, to Hitler, to Stalin, to Khomeini, to Mao and to Kim Jong Ill [sic], it is wounded childhood that causes NPD. Obama’s chaotic childhood and his continuous struggle to find his identity make him a prime candidate for NPD.

And this:

It is no wonder that Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez, the Castrists, the Hezbollah, the Hamas, the lawyers of the Guantanamo terrorists and virtually all sworn enemies of America are so thrilled by the prospect of their man in the White House. America is on the verge of destruction. There is no insanity greater than electing a pathological narcissist as predident [sic].

Another link on the Hays Republicans’ site — entitled “Take a good long look at this interview done in 1985 featuring a soviet defector and ex-KGB propaganda agent laying out a communist multi-generational plan that is unfolding today” — leads, sure enough, to an interview featuring a Soviet defector and ex-KGB propaganda agent laying out a multi-generational plan to do something or the other. What the grainy video has to do with Obama — or anything else — is unclear.

The Hays site features another video headlined “Barack Obama & Kenya’s radical socialist Raila Odinga: Odinga’s connections to Communism, Islam, and his cousin, Barack Obama.”

To review thus far: Obama is a Hitleresque communist Muslim who worships himself when he’s not, ya know, pallin’ around with terrorists. But that’s not all. The Hays GOP directs curious readers to this tangled web, where you learn about the Saul Alinsky-ACORN-Ayers-MoveOn.org-etc-etc nexus. And, God bless them, there’s even a chart!

The DeWitt County GOP site is another bastion of enlightened discourse.

Barack Hussein Obama is no ordinary Democratic candidate. He is by far the most liberal candidate ever to become the party’s nominee. Endorsed by the Socialist Party and Hamas. He can’t win legitimately, so he must shade the truth and use surrogates to steal the election.

Take that, California!