Articles for November 8th, 2010

Cowboys’ Wheels Shoot Off on the Field and Online

The Cowboys got their website back in working order, but here’s what it looked like earlier this morning. A deeply troubled organization.

posted by Tim Rogers | November 8th, 2010 10:28am | filed under Local News | 1 Comment »

Pete Sessions Outmaneuvered for Majority Whip

You’d think after a huge victory the guy nominally in charge of it — in this case, the head of the National Republican Congressional Committee — would be rewarded. Not this time. Sessions made noises about going for majority whip, but Andy McCarthy of California lined up the votes before he could actually announce. Are Republican congressmen an ungrateful lot? Maybe the key word above is “nominally” — his colleagues seem not to think he was responsible for the sweep. Or maybe members thought Sessions ought to stay off camera. They apparently have not forgotten this or this or this.

posted by Wick Allison | November 8th, 2010 10:19am | filed under Politics | 1 Comment »

Michelle Bachmann vs. Jeb Hensarling

The Tea Party darling says she’ll run against Dallas’ own Jeb Hensarling for the #4 spot in the GOP Congressional leadership because America needs a “constitutional conservative” in the post. 

Odd, that. Hensarling is one of the top fiscal watchdogs in the Republican majority:

Citizens Against Government Waste, a spending watchdog group, rates him higher than Bachmann. The group gives him a lifetime rating of 96 to her 91. Club for Growth gives Bachmann an 88, compared with Hensarling, who is tied for No. 1 with the top score of 100.

Here’s a post I wrote in 2009 about Hensarling’s battle to save the GOP from itself. Jacob Sullum, over at Reason, asks, “If the Tea Party prefers Bachmann to Hensarling, what good is it?”  He notes that Hensarling has a stronger record on spending than Bachmann does — and gives a little poke at the agricultural subsidies her family has enjoyed over the years.

posted by Wick Allison | November 8th, 2010 9:56am | filed under Politics | 3 Comments »

Why Republicans Lost Dallas County

The state-wide GOP tsunami broke at the borders of Dallas County, with the party losing every county race, in one case by a margin of just .05 percent. The reason for the oh-so-close wipeout? “The top of the ticket,” says one Republican leader. In other words: Rick Perry.

So many Republicans voted against Perry that he trailed every other Republican candidate on the ballot. Danny Clancy led him, Wade Emmert led him, and even at the very bottom of the ticket, candidate for County Probate Court #2 Lori Peters led him. Perry garnered only 180,000 votes, losing the county by a margin of 15 percent. Even Lori Peters got 197,000 votes.

By contrast, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst carried the county with 206,000 votes, and the GOP swept eight of eight legislative races.

posted by Wick Allison | November 8th, 2010 9:06am | filed under Politics | 5 Comments »

Leading Off (11/8/10)

1. In 2008, the natural gas drilling company XTO Energy paid $33.4 million to the City of Dallas for leases on city land where it hoped to drill, money the city used to fund budget shortfalls and police officers. Now, thanks to a recent swell in public opposition to drilling for gas (fueled, in part, by the movie Gasland), the City Plan Commission has voted against approving specific-use permits for XTO to drill. The City Council is in a bind. Do they follow the commission and vote against the drilling permits on the very land which they were paid millions to lease for the purpose of natural gas drilling?

How XTO would respond to paying millions of dollars for a lease then failing to win the permit to exercise it is unclear. The company agreed to a number of restrictions on drilling – including submitting to the permit process – when it signed its lease.

2. For the second time in two weeks we learn that ambiguous hand gestures are punishable by death in Oak Cliff. Yesterday morning, a 32-year-old man asked residents living in an area on West Davis to call the police for him. When the police arrived, they shot and killed him.

3. Great weekend in local sports: Dallas’ football team continued its run of success, advancing to the league conference finals.

posted by Peter Simek | November 8th, 2010 8:08am | filed under Crime, Environment, Local Government, Police, Sports, controversy | 5 Comments »
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