Railroad Commissioner Websites Are Comedy Gold

I've been researching republican primary candidates, and oh my word, reading Railroad Commissioner candidates' websites is comedy gold...

Take Doug Jeffrey's website...one whole paragraph and a link to his facebook page is the whole thing. No mentions of issues...just a bio with this gem to convince us he has experience in the oil industry (which is what Railroad Commissioner regulates...that and gas, but ironically, not railroads):

"Doug has continued his family's tradition of raising cattle and has active investments in the oil and gas industry." 

Like, "I invest in oil companies" is the closest thing he has to experience...all grouped in there in a sentence about his cattle experience, like that's just as relevant.  Nice.

 Or try this one by John Greytok (who's site overall isn't too bad...at least it has some content, this quote not withstanding)....

"...in 1994, outraged over the arrogance of the Clinton White House, Greytok filed suit against Bill Clinton in a Texas federal district court." 

And that was ALL it said about that. So, was the suit about... Clinton's arrogance? I mean really, cause he didn't  say WHY he sued him, other than that. I can just picture that day in the courtroom...as John Greytok stands in front of the court and in a booming voice says, "I file this suit over the egregiously pompous arrogance perpetrated by President Clinton."


Ron Hale does talk about issues a little...but someone please get this man a copy-editor.  He has a whole line of "bullet points" all formatted like this....

Conservative Principles I plan to regulate on the basis of traditional values, limited state and federal government involvement, individual liberty, and free market principles.

Wow, that's new...this is the first Republican I've heard of that wants to regulate conservative principals. Seriously Hale, advice from a former English major...you need a dash or a colon or some bolding or something in there. Really, pay some college student $20 to edit your site...it's worth it).*

 *Yeah, yeah, I know I'm going to be creamed for that cause I probably have a few errors in this myself. Granted, I'm not expecting anyone to vote for me though.

So, who did I decide on?  Someone who doesn't have a website at all (at least not one I can find)...which usually would be a pretty swift knock against him, but nearly every article on the race I could find seemed to be endorsing him, and their reasoning seemed sound.  The Dallas News, The Eagle, Corpus Christy Caller Times and Waco Tribune all endorse the geologist and current commission employee Lance Christian (not to be confused with Wayne Christian, also running, who seemed to get some pretty hearty UN-endorsements).   The Texas Tribune also had a very detailed and mostly positive article about Lance, though it wasn't an official endorsement.  And the Houston Chronicle suggests a vote for EITHER Lance Christian OR John Greytok. 

Below are some quotes from those endorsements...

For Lance Christian

Of all the candidates, Lance Christian not only is the most knowledgeable about the commission, but wants to use that knowledge to help industry thrive responsibly. He's a geologist working for the commission — not just a geologist but one versed in hydrology. His science background and his knowledge of the inner workings of the agency would be uncommon assets to the commission. He knows better than the others which rules work and which don't.-Corpus Christy Caller Times

Unlike many of the politicians in this race, he keeps a focus on the straight and narrow duties of the commission: preserving the safety of Texans and our environment, and fostering the oil and gas industry. But maybe he doesn't go for the political pot-shots because Christian can actually talk about the policy and science that consumes most of the day-to-day duties of the commission.
- Houston Chronicle

 [Lance Christian is] likely to bring a measured, reasoned voice to difficult discussions about energy and environmental concerns. For example, Christian cited a need to review regulations to help the embattled oil and gas industry, including revamping a bond structure to allow small operators greater financial flexibility in plugging dormant wells. He also said the commission needs to carefully address harmful environmental emissions without hurting a struggling industry. This is a reasonable, balanced approach.
- Dallas News

For the record, the only candidate who stood out of the Texas Railroad Commission wannabes assembled...was Lance Christian, a low-key, 44-year-old geologist who works for the commission. He talked about things like horizontal drilling, injection wells and protecting groundwater. In short, he knew what he was talking about and didn’t feel the need to proclaim himself pro-Israel or pro-gun. 
- Waco Tribune

 For John Greytok

Greytok has legal expertise. With a law degree from the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, Greytok has served as a Special Assistant Attorney General for the state of Texas and as a briefing attorney to the chief justice of the Third Court of Appeals in Austin. He understands the legal aspects of the commission's rulemaking and is also endorsed by former Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson.
- Houston Chronical

Anyways, also along the way I found some seemingly non-biased sources for info.  This article lists quotes from a candidate forum (which unfortunately I couldn't find the full transcript for.).   While the Dallas Morning News itself isn't un-biased, their voter's guide seems to consist of verbatim answers to questions from the candidates, so offers a good overview without their own slant to it.     There was also a Q&A session I found, but  Lance Christian wasn't included (he came into the race late, so maybe that's why).

Texas Elections: Last Minute Research

There's still time to research your vote Texans!  I'd like to share some resources with you.  Sorry that this is a no frills list.  Still doing research myself and will add to this list as I get more resources.  On debates and articles, if I know of a fact check on any of the issues, I will include it underneath that link.

If you're in that spot where you haven't done any research, you still have time, even on the last day, to research one race.  Don't feel bad if you don't vote in all the races.  If you make an informed vote in ONE race you've done something good.

List of All Candidates
Get a Sample Ballot at Vote 411
(There's a form on the side where you can enter your info
 and get a listing of all the elected offices that will be on your local ballot) 

DEBATES

Govenor Debate
-FACT CHECK on accusation that Abbot ruled that "Payday Lenders" (who supported his campaign) could charge unlimited fees (Rated True by Politifact)
-Note:  I have not finished watching this debate, so have not completed listing fact checks for it either.

Lt. Govenor Debate
-FACT CHECK on accusation of Patrick voting against testing Rape kits (Rated "Pants on Fire" or Completely False by Politifact)
-FACT CHECK on accusation that Van de Putte voted to give illegal immigrants "totally free healthcare"  (Rated False by Politifact)
-FACT CHECK on accusation that Patrick said women not getting equal pay is "not a problem" (Rated Half True by Politifact)
-FACT Check on Van de Putte's statement that the company that evaluates student exams ""goes on Craigslist to get examiners to read our students’ essays." (RATED Mostly False)
-FACT CHECK on whether Patrick "put back" education spending he had taken away during downturn  (This is a check on something he said outside the debates, but he said something similar here as well, so I'm including it).

Comptroller Debates 

Railroad Commissioner Forum 
(Railroad Commissioner has nothing to do with railroads anymore, but regulates oil, gas and other natural resources in TX)  Sadly the Republican candidate did not show for this.

Texas Agricultural Commissioner Forum  
Sadly only the Libertarian candidate showed for this.

Attorney General (Sort of...see note below)
I could not find a debate between the Attorney General's candidate...but I was interested enough that I went back and looked at the Primary debate including the Republican Paxton, and have outlined in the link above where you can find his responses in the video.  You can also find the Libertarian Primary debate here.  I could not locate any Democratic primary debates.

Fact Check Sites
These fact check sites below, especially the first one, have checks on these and more candidates,
including things they have said in speeches and political ads.  

Politifact Texas

Fact Check.org

Voters Guides

Texas League of Women's Voters Guide

Has candidate answers to various questions, and also good explanations of

the duties/requirements of each of the offices.  Also has information on the Texas Constitutional
Amendments up for a vote this year.

Christian Voter Guides

This has links to several voter guides, many of which could be used by 

non-Christian voters as well to see how candidates stand on various issues.

Some of the linked guides portray objective information like voting records, 

while others use more subjective measurements.

Attorney General

I looked for dates between the Attorney General candidates and could find none, however, I did find some debates in the primary and thought what they said in those debates might be telling.  Actually, didn't find any debates including the Democrat (Sam Houstan), but did find one with Paxton. I only watched one part of it (it was four parts...Part 1 was all introduction, and Paxton came in half way into Part 2.  Below you can see what time on the video you can see his answers...




11.49 - Question: How have you reduced the size and scope of State Government.

Paxton's answer followes immediately.

14:35 Question: (Paraphrased)  If you were Attorney General today, describe what you would be doing about an investigation into 1: UT Law School Foundation payola to UT Law Professors 2) UT preference shown to unqualified students of politicans and donors.

17:17 Paxton's Answer

20:50 Question: (paraphrased) The court has ruled that property Owners do not have a Constitutionally Protected Vest Right in Property Uses.  What is your view of this rulign?

23:24 Paxton's Answer

27:30  Question: (paraphrased) Define the terrm "Activist Attorney".  Would you be one?

Paxton's answer followes immediately.

34:09 Question: (paraphrased) Define Cancer Research Institute Secret Scandal and how it could have been avoided.

26:45 Paxton's Answer

40:49 Question: (paraphrased) If elected Attorney General would you then "trade up" for higher offic?  What is your position on the Emerging Tech Fund, the Texas Enterprize Fun and the Special Events Fund aka Forumula 1 Racing.

Wikipedia Blacks Out in Protest of SOPA!

Guess what I found on wikipedia today....

Nothing! Well, ok, not nothing...but not what I was looking for (which was, ironically, a list of internationally banned books).

If you're reading this AFTER January 18th...wikipedia basically shut down its site in protest of the SOPA bill, which if passed has the ability to greatly undermine internet freedom of speech. You can read more about it here. The bill is meant to protect copyright...but can block websites which publish user content (like blogger, you tube, pinterest, Facebook, university websites which publish student work, flickr, etc..) if their users postup copyrighted material.

(Full Sized Version Here)

My husband accually just got a change to meet with a representative of John Cornyn along with some other geeks (um...sorry...computer professionals) who were concerned about the implications of this bill.  Since he was a sponsor (or co-sponsor...can't remember) of this bill I'm not sure if it will help but we're hopeful!

This is Texas (Laws)

These laws in Texas took affect last Thursday.  Whatever you think of them, they tell a lot about Texas culture.

• Drivers can now go 70 at night, and soon will be able to go 75 on some roads, without being ticketed.
• Private property holders have been given extra protections against having their land seized by eminent domain.
• And those landholders can now hold commercial airborne hog hunts on their land.
• Plus "Noodlers" can now catch fish with their bare hands legally.
• Drunk drivers who severely injure someone in a traffic accident may receive harsher penalties (I absolutely support that one!).
• "It will be more difficult to present eyewitness testimony as key evidence in a trial." (OK...anyone who knows more about this want to explain that one?  The article didn't say what bill this was for, and I couldn't find other articles about it.). 
• Pets can now be covered under the same protective orders as victims of domestic abuse.
• Daycare workers now are required to get parents' permission before giving children medication.
• Doctors will be required to perform a sonogram before giving a woman an abortion; but may not necessarily have to show the sonogram to the patient...according to a federal judge's ruling. (My first thought was "What's the point then?", but then it hit me that sonograms are used to determine how far along the pregnancy is...and would probably be necessary both to determine if an abortion is legal and and the method used).   

Click here to see the full article this was paraphrased from. 

Thoughts Following This Election

My husband and I try to research and vote in as many of races for "minor" state and local offices as we can--offices like State Board of Education, Comptroller, and Railroad Commissioner (an office which in Texas has nothing to do with railroads and lots to do with regulating the oil industry).  We know these offices can affect our lives as much as the "more important" positions like Governor and Senator, and we know that less people vote on them, so we figure our votes count even more on these than on the "big" races.

What's frustrating to me this election is realizing how many of these "minor"  offices are decided by people who vote straight party line, when most of those offices don't even have anything to do with what a lot of those people voted straight party line about.  For instance, I'm Pro-Life, so that means I often vote Republican.  But when it comes to things like Agricultural Commissioner or Railroad Commissioner, their duties don't include anything that would affect that issue. 

My husband and I are watching several of these "minor" races and noticing that in our state the Republican candidates are winning by almost exactly the same margin on all of these lesser known positions (and that's not true for the more well known offices like Governor and Senator).  It makes me wonder if most of the democrats in these positions are loosing solely because of party line votes from people who, in general, don't even know what the office does or what the candidates stand for (a lot of them at least).  Most of the people who don't vote party line just don't vote on these.

It saddens me to think that because of party line voting some qualified and capable candidates who are running for the right reasons might loose to candidates who are corrupt, inexperienced, misguided, or who are just seeking this position as a stepping stone to another "more important" one.


So, my challenge to you for the NEXT election is this:

1. Don't vote straight party line!  At very least if you don't know anything about an elected position and whether the republican or democratic (or green, libertarian, etc) qualities you care about are important in that position, don't vote on that particular race.
2. Do some research on at least one elected position you know nothing about, and next election, do research on the candidates, and vote on the race for that election.

Read more about the affects of Straight-Ticket Voting:
In November, Straight Ticket Votes Decide Winner (Texas)

Still Researching Your Vote?

I am! And boy do I wish I hadn't waited this long. Election day sort of slipped up on me. I thought I had a couple more weeks to go and, YIKES, election day is tomorrow.

As I find useful articles and sources, I'll be posting them here, mostly be focusing on Texas (since that's where I'm voting).

Find Your Disctrict

List of Texas Candidates

This lists statewide candidates, and on the right you'll see links 

to find U.S. Congressional candidates, and Texas House and Senate Candidates.

Candidate Research
Here are some sites that check candidates statements to see if they're true.  It's important to at least skim the explanations of why they think something said was true or false, though.  For instance, they marked Chet Edward's statement Edwards makes a case that he’s steadfastly opposed efforts to impose gun controls. However, none of his cited measures would "take away" anyone’s weapons. It’s overblown claims like this that keep the Truth-O-Meter in business.

Project Vote Smart

On the Issues

Free Voters Guide
NOTE:  This resource can be helpful for positions like Governor and State Board of Education, though realize it asks some candidates questions that have nothing to do with their jobs. For example, The Railroad Commissioner, and Commissioner of Texas Land Use of Texas and Agricultural Commissioner's jobs have NOTHING to do with most of the questions they were asked. They have no say over abortion, Divorce Reform, etc. And its too bad that they weren't asked any questions about the environment or economy because they do have a lot to do with that.

Check Truthfulness of Candidates Statements
These sites check whether statements made by politicians are true or false.  Be careful to at least skim the explanation why, because it can reveal important details that shed light on the candidate.  For instance, Chet Edwards was marked "false" on his claim to "say no to Washington liberals who want to steal our guns" not because he didn't actively oppose gun legislation (he did) but because they thought that legislation didn't actually threaten to "take away" guns. 

Politifact - Texas

Politifact National 

(has some articles on California but not a whole section)

Fact Check.org

Forums 

Topix Forum by State

Articles and Info on Specific Candidates and Races

TEXAS RAILROAD COMMISSIONER  - Yes, you should care about this!
The Railroad Commissioner heads the The Railroad Commission of Texas, which no longer has ANYTHING to do with railroads, but regulates the oil and gas industry, gas utilities, pipeline safety, liquefied petroleum gas industry, and surface coal and uranium mining industries. So, if you care about what happened in the Gulf, you should care about this.

CANDIDATES FOR RAILROAD COMMISSIONER
David Porter (Republican)
Jeff Weems (Democratic)
Art Browning (Green Party)
Roger Gary (Libertarian)

ARTICLES:
Did Jeff Weems Lawyer for BP and Enron, and Big Oil?
Summary:   Yes, but it was mainly litigating royalty disputes..


TEXAS LAND COMMISSIONER
If you care about conservation, preservation, land use, energy, and surprizingly, Veterans (yeah...it's someone related in there), this is a position you should research.

Land Commissioner Debates


TEXAS GOVENOR

Debates:  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7
Perry didn't attend,  but I really suggest hearing this.  It really gives a good idea of what the other candidates stand for.





Find Your Polling Place
Google has made finding your polling place so simple.  Just type "Find Polling Place" into google.  A few lines down you'll see a text box where you can enter your address and google will map your polling place for you.  Yeah google!


Please share any articles on any Texas or California election subject you found helpful.  Thanks!

Today's Thought

Overpopulation Myth by DakotaJoan
In Affiliation With Zazzle.com 

The Craziness of Law

I've been following news on the CPSIA (a recent overarching law that is a real mess for children's hand-crafters, booksellers, and thrift stores). But anyways, that wasn't what I came online to chat about today. You see, one of the side affects of my research on that is I've discovered some really good blogs along the way. One of them is Overlawyered.com. My reading there the last couple days lead me to some interesting news items related to California and Texas.

It's not unheard of in Texas for a small town to use motorists passing through to fund it's police department (I personally know of a little stretch of HWY 35 where the speed limit dips from 70 to 65 for no aparant reason except to trap moterists with tickets--and there's not even an offramp to the town that polices that stretch). Well, seems that the town of Tenaha, Texas, is going even further by using a law that grants authorities the power to seize property used in crimes to take stuff from people who were never even charged with one.

Meanwhile, there's a posibility California may be releasing 25% off it's prison polulation. Yeah...you heard that right. A three judge panel has concluded that because of overcrowing the only way to avoid unconstitutional prison conditions is to impose a "cap on the prison population." More on that HERE.

More Texifornian Politics

Interesting Texifornian political tid-bits browsing the blogs today:

Found a blog by a Californian in Texas keeping an eye on politics in the two largest states in the country. (11/20/06 - She's now back blogging at her regular blog--Blue in Texas)

And...this quote by George W. Bush:

"I was raised in the West. The west of Texas. It's pretty close to
California. In more ways than Washington, DC is close to California."
-4/8/2000

(Found at Bushisms Explained.)

Nicknames and Slogans: The Crazy Politics Begins

Well, this isn't new news...I'm just finally getting around to commenting on it.

Both independents running for Texas Governor asked for a nickname to be used on the ballot. Kinky Friedman was granted his request to be called Kinky, not Richard (his given name). Carole Keeton Strayhorn was not allowed to be called Grandma. (Full Article Here)

They said that there was evidence that Friedman had gone by the name Kinky for many years, while Grandma was a slogan, not a nickname, for Strayhorn.

Now, here's my comment. That Strayhorn was trying to get Grandma on the ballot at all is so political it makes my skin crawl. And I'm not a fan of Kinky or any other candidate. In fact, when I first learned that Strayhorn was going to try to run, I went to her website to find out about her because I didn't care for my other choices. Not finding out much that was substantial, I contacted her campaign by e-mail and said, basically, that I was interested in signing her petition to run but I needed to find out more about where she stood on various issues and what she planned to do as Governor before I could give her my suppport. Soon afterwards I received a packet with a petition sheets and a stack of bumper stickers--but nothing to convince me that she was a worthy candidate. The letter that came with the package thanked me for my support (which I hadn't offered yet) and said that the important thing was to get people to think of the phrase "One Tough Grandma" when they thought of Strayhorn.

So great...you're one tough Grandma. I know a lot of tough grandma's I wouldn't want for Governor. Give me something more.