The Texas Observer

We’ve seen some pretty lame presidential debate moderators this election cycle. But no matter how bad you think George Stephanopoulos or Gwen Ifill were, at least they could lay a claim to journalistic legitimacy. Not so Leslie Ward, an AT&T vice president and lobbyist. Ward was one of three panelists moderating Sunday’s debate between Speaker Tom Craddick and Democratic challenger Bill Dingus. The other two were local radio hosts—you know, journalists. What was Ward doing there? The debate was hosted by TV station KMID, and “sponsored” by AT&T. While it’s not unusual for corporations to underwrite debates, that doesn’t normally buy their lobbyist a seat at the table.

But there was Ward, asking Craddick and Dingus questions such as: “In the Legislature a lot of emphasis is placed on seniority and rank. Does having the Speaker come from Midland make a difference?” Rough translation: Mr. Speaker, how did you become so awesome and why is your opponent beating his wife? Texas Monthly pundit Paul Burka called the seniority question “obviously a softball pitched so that Craddick can knock it out of the park.”

Appropriately, Dingus spent much of the debate bashing Craddick for being too close to lobbyists. Close enough to reach out and touch them, you might say. Ward, who sat just a few feet from the candidates, is the treasurer of the AT&T PAC, which just four days before the debate had given Craddick $50,000. Ward had personally donated $500 to Craddick’s Stars Over Texas PAC two weeks before. The lobbyist/moderator hung around after the debate long enough to get a little defensive with the Midland newspaper.

Ward noted afterward that offering or accepting corporate political contributions is a federal offense. “Nobody in Texas is taking any corporate money,” she said.

It may not be a crime for a lobbyist with financial ties to a candidate to moderate a debate… but it should be a scandal.

In the final frantic weeks before election day, the GOP’s major donors have dropped last-minute bundles of cash to Texas Republicans. Sweet relief. In the last month, GOP donors have infused their Texas House candidates with a massive amount of money, enough to erase the Democrats’ financial advantage in many races, according to the latest campaign finance filings. Of the 12 races we profiled earlier this month that will determine which party controls the Texas House, Republican candidates have taken the fundraising lead in eight, at least for the past month. The primary reason: the Craddick machine has finally come alive.

Republican Speaker Tom Craddick, eager to avoid a run on his power, has pumped $500,000 into his Stars Over Texas PAC, which in turn has donated $900,000 in the past month to Republicans in close House races. Empower Texans PAC, another Craddick vehicle, has raised and spent about $280,000. James Leininger, the shadowy San Antonio voucher king who had previously said he would be laying low this election, gave $100,000 to the PAC. Midland oilman Tim Dunn, perhaps the most influential political player that most Texans never heard of, also gave $100,000.

In addtion, homebuilder and perennial donor Bob Perry alone has spent more than $450,000 on House and Senate candidates in the past month, the vast majority Republican.

Here’s where some of that ocean of money has come ashore in the past 30 days:

• Bryan Daniel, the Republican hoping to keep Williamson County in the red, had been severely lagging behind Democrat Diana Maldonado in fundraising. But in the last month he took in more than $517,000, a huge sum of money for a House race. Almost half that amount - $236,089 - came from Texans for Lawsuit Reform. Also, Bob Perry gave him $50,000. Craddick’s Stars Over Texas PAC, $55,000. Maldonado still did pretty well, pulling in $304,649, including almost $50,000 from the trial lawyer-backed Texans for Insurance Reform
• Bill Zedler, the weak Republican incumbent who represents a district in suburban Tarrant County, socked away almost $600,000 the past 30 days, compared to opponent Chris Turner’s $274,000. Who in this crappy economy has that sort of money? Craddick’s Stars Over Texas PAC gave Zedler $200,000. Texans for Lawsuit Reform spent $129,000. In the small-donation department, the Texas Funeral Directors Associations PAC, in lieu of flowers, donated $500 to save Zedler from political death.
• Until now, Republican Ken Legler had anemic fundraising numbers. But today he posted a cool $338,839 in the past month to Democratic opponent Joel Redmond’s $278,652. James Leininger pumped in $25,000. Bob Perry, $18,000. Craddick’s Stars Over Texas PAC chipped in $45,000. Texans for Lawsuit Reform spent $90,000. Empower Texans PAC unloaded almost $81,000 to buy Legler TV ads and direct mail pieces, the latter of which are arguably racist.
• Republican Tim Kleinschmidt posts some big numbers against Democrat Donnie Dippel in the District 17 race. Kleinschmidt hauled in $513,580 this month vs. Dippel’s $323,462. Bob Perry gave $60,000. Stars Over Texas PAC donated an eye-popping $110,000.

Bottom-line: With one week to go, big money is coming to the Republicans’ rescue. Democrats had fund-raising bragging rights for most of this year, exceeding the Republicans in many key races. That lead is evaporating. Whether that will make the ultimate difference is impossible to know. Money doesn’t win campaigns by itself, but it sure helps.

Just in time for a pre-election reading binge, The Texas Book Festival returns to Austin November 1 and 2 with hundreds of authors and journalists (not to mention teachers and librarians) descending on the capitol building for literary hobnobbery and writerly good times. The sheer scope of the offerings can be intimidating, and you can’t see (or hear) everything, so you’ll need a game plan to maximize your time. May we suggest an Observer-centric approach? Try our admittedly biased schedule of writers in the Observer’s extended family, supplemented with writers we’ve recently written about. They’ve all got interesting things to say, and we recommend them highly.

There’ll be politics aplenty in the Capitol building’s House Chamber Saturday at the “Memo to the President-Elect” session. The Observer’s new editor, Bob Moser, most recently of The Nation magazine, will introduce himself to Austin and talk about his new book, Blue Dixie: Awakening the South’s Democratic Majority (excerpted in the Oct. 31 Observer here), while Reihan Salam and Ross Douthat, of The Atlantic, will discuss their new book, Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream. Saturday 3:00-4:00 p.m., House Chamber.

Long-time Observer contributing writer Robert Bryce appears on a panel titled “Bubblin’ Crude: The Life and Times of Oil.” You can find the Observer’s excerpt of his recent book, Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of “Energy Independence,” here. Saturday 1:30-2:30 p.m., House Chamber.

Observer columnist and former editor Jim Hightower will discuss his new book on real live mavericks, Swim Against the Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow. Saturday 11:00-11:45 a.m., Capitol Extension E2.014.

Economist and Observer contributing writer James K. Galbraith will talk about his new book, The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too. Check out the Observer’s excerpt of the book here. Sunday 12:30-1:15 p.m., Capitol Extension E2.014.

Former Observer editor Geoff Rips will participate in the panel “Evoking a Sense of Place” with writers Sara Roahen, Carmen Tafolla, and Tom Piazza. Rips’ debut novel, The Truth, won the 2006 Association of Writers and Writing Programs prize. Check out some of his work for the Observer here. Saturday 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Capitol Extension E2.016.

Regular Observer book reviewer James E. McWilliams will discuss the history of American insects and efforts to exterminate them—the subject of his recent book American Pests: The Losing War on Insects from Colonial Times to DDT, in the “Cultural Collisions” panel. Read McWilliams’ Observer writing on the politics of food here and here. Saturday 2:00-3:00 p.m., Capitol Extension E2.106.

Gary Keith, an Observer contributor, will discuss his biography of Bob Eckhardt during the panel, “Texas Political Giants: Bullock, Briscoe, Eckhardt.” Keith’s book, Eckhardt: There Once Was a Congressman from Texas, is reviewed in the Observer here. Saturday 12:30-1:30 p.m., Senate Chamber.

Lou Dubose, former Observer editor and co-author with Molly Ivins of Bill of Wrongs: The Executive Branch’s Assault on America’s Fundamental Rights, introduces Jeremy Scahill, who will discuss his Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army. Sunday 12:30-1:15 p.m., Capitol Extension E2.026.

After years of writing about Willie Nelson and his music in magazines far and wide, Joe Nick Patoski recently published the definitive biography, Willie Nelson: An Epic Life, Patoski, a regular Observer contributor, has written on the Austin music scene here and Texas culture here. Sunday 1:30-2:15 p.m., Capitol Extension E2.026.

The Texas Book Festival is also chock-full of authors who have been the subject of Observer reviews. Here’s a sampling.

Gary Hartman’s The History of Texas Music is reviewed here by Michael Hoinski. Saturday 2:00-3:00 p.m., Music Tent.

The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart, by Bill Bishop and Robert Cushing, is reviewed here by Char Miller. Saturday 12:00-1:00 p.m., House Chamber.

Philip Gourevitch collaborated with Errol Morris on the book, Standard Operating Procedure, which accompanies the movie of the same name. Gourevitch will appear twice on Saturday: 12:00-12:45 p.m. in Capitol Extension 2.012, and 8:00-9:30 p.m. at the Continental Club. In the first event, Gourevitch will discuss his work as a journalist, while in the second he’ll converse with novelist and The Wire writer Richard Price. Observer contributor Edward Nawotka wrote about Standard Operating Procedure and other war-on-terror narratives here, and he will moderate the panel “Reading the Classics for Pleasure” on Saturday, 11:00-11:45 a.m., Capitol Extension 2.012.

Bud Shrake’s Land of the Permanent Wave: An Edwin “Bud” Shrake Reader is reviewed here by Stayton Bonner. Shrake has previously been recognized by the festival for lifetime achievement with a Bookend Award. Saturday 12:00-12:45 p.m., Capitol Extension 2.014.

C.E. Hunt’s Big Thicket People: Larry Jene Fisher’s Photographs of the Last Southern Frontier is reviewed here by Stayton Bonner. Saturday 2:00-2:45 p.m., Capitol Extension 2.010.

See the entire schedule of events here.

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!

As we pointed out last week, Texas Democrats have done a hell of a job raising money this year. Harvey Kronberg of Quorum Report (subscription only) does the math: In 32 key races, Democrats have raised $3,425,132.45; Republicans, $2,735,865.64. But Dems shouldn’t break out the champagne just yet. Kronberg checks in with sober GOP insiders.

The conventional wisdom, of course, is that the big money guys on the GOP side will eventually ride to the rescue. Craddick can always put his thumb on the scale by dispatching some of his nearly $3 million campaign war chest to his Stars Over Texas PAC. Texans for Lawsuit Reform, which gives money to both sides but tends to lean toward GOP candidates, has more than $2.5 million in the bank for a final stretch run. And Bob Perry has shown he has an almost unlimited willingness to put money into Republican races and causes.

As one GOP consultant put it, the 30-day report doesn’t tell the story. The 8-day report is where the story is. He acknowledged that Democrats have put up strong candidates, singling out Diana Maldonado in HD 52, but “I’m not crying in my beer over the reports.”

Translation: The GOP — as in previous elections — will drop a lot of last-minute money and advertising into key races. Those efforts won’t be publicly known until the last round of campaign finance reports, due eight days before the election.

You may remember last month that Crystal Beach resident, Michael Ray Kujawa, spent a grueling night during the worst part of Hurricane Ike in a Baptist church with his 11-year old pet lioness “Shackles.” Well, he also left behind a 7-year old female tiger that nearly drowned in her enclosure.

The tiger managed to tread water for four days until it could be rescued by former Jefferson County Judge Carl Griffith, a local veterinarian Dr. Sarah Matak and some Texas game wardens. According to Matak, who tranquilized the tiger, the animal was not running loose on the Bolivar Peninsula as reported in an Associated Press story. The rescuers transported the female tiger to a temporary refuge in Somerville, Texas.

The good news is that the tiger will now have a permanent home at the International Exotic Animal Sanctuary in north Texas. The sanctuary, profiled in last month’s Observer story “A Tiger’s Tale” is one of the only accredited facilities in Texas that cares for abandoned and neglected big cats.

“It is truly amazing that she survived,” says Richard Gilbreth, director of the sanctuary. He says the tiger will arrive at the sanctuary tonight and be quarantined until she receives a clean bill of health.

Gilbreth said he received a call from the USDA asking if he could take the tiger. “The former owner has nothing left to take care of the tiger,” he says. The lion that spent the night in the Baptist church still resides at the temporary shelter in Somerville.

After Gilbreth received the call from the USDA, he reached out to Tony Stewart, a two-time NASCAR champion for help. The Tony Stewart Foundation generously supports animal and child welfare organizations, Gilbreth says.

Stewart has pledged $5,000 so far to build a new enclosure for the tiger. Stewart also named the tiger “Zippy” in honor of his crew chief Greg Zipadelli. To find out more about Zippy or the International Exotic Animal Sanctuary, go to www.bigcats.org.

Free speech has won out at the University of Texas. UT-Austin just decided to suspend its stupendously dumb rule that students can’t have signs in their dorm windows.

“The students and community raised their collective voice and the president of the university listened,” Jeffery Graves, vice president of legal affairs at UT, told me a few minutes ago.

Graves said an interim rule has gone into effect, allowing signage in dorm windows. Disciplinary actions pending against students who refused to remove their political posters have been dropped.

Really, UT didn’t have much of a choice. The media was hammering the university administration. The blogs were lighting up. The University Democrats and College Republicans had even joined forces. More important, some alumni were threatening to stop making financial donations. Here’s what one alumna wrote in an email to UT:

I will find it very difficult in the future to make financial contributions to an educational institution that suppresses political speech in such a broad brush manner. You certainly are teaching the students (and the rest of us) one thing - that we need a new legal department at the University if students want to enjoy their Constitutional rights. Congratulations on embarrassing UT in front of the entire country.

If there’s one thing the Tower fears, it’s a good old fashioned alumni boycott.