Another Alabama swindle

clipped from www.al.com Breland: Not enough Madison cash MADISON - Local developer Louis Breland said Wednesday his attempt to deannex 263 acres of his property from Madison is not an attack on the city but an attempt to find the best opportunity for a new retail development. Breland asked state Sen. Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe, to draft and advertise legislation to deannex his property on Zierdt Road, just south of Interstate 565 from the Madison city limits. Madison city leaders have been upset about the move because of a proposed retail development on the site that will generate millions in sales tax revenue. Madison Mayor Sandy Kirkindall said Wednesday when Breland lets the city know what incentives he wants, officials can look at funding options. One of the options includes implementing a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district - a method used several times in Huntsville to help pay for improvements for big retail projects - to help foot the bill. It does not count against the city's debt limit of $32 million.

Why are we paying Breland to build here? If he wants to build the retail development on land he owns, he should do it. And if he doesn't like the fact that the city won't fork over incentives for him to do something that he already wants to do, then he can leave the land empty or sell it to someone else.

It is pretty shifty business to seek an end-around in the state legislature when the city involved and the surrounding areas tell you to back off. I only wish Alabama had more transparent campaign finance regulations and reporting. You know Breland didn't just ask Lowell Barron to carry this legislation without greasing the wheels a little.

Huntsville Mayor Loretta Spencer should publicly state that the city of Huntsville will not annex this property if it is deannexed from Madison. If Breland gets freed from Madison, but becomes so toxic in the process that no one else will "incentive" his project, then maybe he will get the message.

UPDATE: Alabama's campaign finance rules are spectacularly byzantine. PACs and campaigns can transfer money freely amongst themselves. The transfers are large, multiple, and overlapping, successfully hiding the sources of funds. It's political money laundering at its finest.

However, it is true that Louis Breland donated $5,000 to Tennessee Valley Citizens for Economic Development PAC on February 8, 2007, around the time that the issue was exploding before the Madison City Council. For the uninitiated, The Tennessee Valley PAC is controlled by Steven Raby, head of Direct Communications and right-hand man to Sen. Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe, the man carrying Breland's legislation in the state Senate.

Tennessee Valley PAC has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Sen. Barron since the last election cycle. Some of that money directly benefits Barron and his campaign. A lot of the money, however, helps cement his place as a power broker. Barron has turned around and donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to favored candidates in the House and Senate over the last few elections. Winning candidates then join the money laundering train, and are beholden to Barron in the Senate.

Now, if I can just get a printer and an assistant, maybe I can unravel all the PAC ties...

UPDATE 2: Madison Senator Parker Griffith took $1,000 each from Tennessee Valley PAC and Louis Breland in 2006.

Going all the way

Austin American-Statesman:

UT baseball players Randy Boone, left, Clay Van Hook and Todd Gilfillan shaved their heads as a sign of support for Van Hook's mother, Loyce, who is battling cancer. Nearly 20 players have followed suit as the No. 9-ranked Longhorns (22-8, 5-1), who face No. 8 Rice at 6 p.m. Tuesday at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, have come together to show their support for a teammate. 'I think it's been a thing this team has bonded together by, a spiritual thing,' coach Augie Garrido said.

Sorry, guys, that's a haircut, not a sacrifice. Those definitely are not shaved heads. (And for Pete's sake, iron your clothes!)

This is a shaved head:

Ethan at ten months

This is my nephew Ethan C., age ten months. Mom went to Lewisville, Texas, for spring break and had some new photos taken with him.

TX-Sen: The 254-County Strategy

I moved to Austin in 1994, just in time to vote for Ann Richards, and watch her lose to George W. Bush. And from the Blue Island - Travis County - I watched as a reasonably Democratic state was swamped by the red tide and turned Republican in less than a decade. Republican as in 100% of statewide elected offices are Republican Republican. And the Texas Democratic Party deserves its share of the blame for this situation.

In the following dozen years, I watched one Don Quixote after another charge up the hill - Victor Morales and his pickup truck in 1996; Garry Mauro's embarrassingly pathetic one third of the vote against Bush in 1998; the Democratic no-show against Kay Bailey Hutchison in 2000; the failure of the multi-ethnic Dream Ticket in 2002; the Democrats' futile attempts to stop DeLay's redistricting in 2003; Governor Goodhair's reelection in 2006 with 39% of the vote. [I was one of the few people in Texas not running for governor in 2006.]

I watched not only what was happening on the Blue Island, but also how these candidates were faring as they traveled outside the urban areas -- and what has happened to them since.

Here is a sampling of our former standard-bearers:

• Morales drove his truck statewide on a shoestring budget, and has since renounced the Democratic Party for its lack of support.
• Dream Ticket Attorney General candidate Kirk Watson, a former Blue Island mayor, has dropped down the ladder to become a state senator.
• Fellow Dream Ticket Senate candidate Ron Kirk abandoned politics and became one of the top lobbyists for Texas' number one polluter, utility TXU.
• 2002 Democratic gubernatorial nominee Tony Sanchez was Bush's largest donor not named Enron and endorsed GOP turncoat Carole Keeton McClellan Rylander Strayhorn for governor in 2006.

Meanwhile, since 1983, the GOP gained state senators in every session but two, and state house members every session but three.

The DNC has earned much recognition – and some well-earned criticisms – for the 50-state strategy. Our successes in Senate races alone show the merit of such a plan. Locally, the Democratic Party is still relevant in some parts of Texas. However, if the Texas Democratic Party wants to pull off a competitive Senate victory, even against a “vulnerable” candidate like John Cornyn, it will require a 254-county strategy.

For example, the TDP does not have county chairs in six Texas counties right now. Sure, they are counties that went at least two-thirds for Bush in 2004. But there are dozens of county commission, school board, city council, and other publicly elected positions that need contesting. Though these counties make up just over one percent of Texas’ population, we are going to need that one percent some day. Our next great statewide candidate may be putting off a run for county judge in Hansford County because there is no TDP support there. Look, if America’s smallest county, Loving County, can have a county chair for its dozen Democrats (12 votes for president in 2004; 11 votes for Senate in 2006), then the TDP should be able to chair and compete for every county in the state.

In spring 2006, the TDP got a new chairman – Boyd Richie from Young County in north Texas. So how did Democrats fare that fall in Young County? A clean sweep! Yes, Republicans won every state and federal election in Young County, all 22 of them, including 11 that the Democrats couldn’t be bothered to contest.

But wait, there’s more! In 2006, the TDP ran no candidate for District Attorney in 21 of 46 counties; 10 of 23 statewide elected offices; 16 of 31 state senate seats; 30 Courts of Appeals seats; and 99 District Judge seats.

The need for a 254-county strategy is clear. As with the Electoral College, a statewide election can be won by taking a handful of urban counties by strong margins, or by winning dozens and dozens of smaller, rural and agricultural counties. By nature, by definition, and by platform, Texas Democrats are not competing well in the nearly two hundred smaller counties. Logic and demography conclude that the key to victory is in the urban counties. However in 2004, President Bush carried all but five of the twenty largest counties (Travis, El Paso, Hidalgo, Cameron and Galveston); and in 2006, Senator Hutchison lost only three of those counties (Travis, El Paso, Hidalgo), including a 50-48 loss in El Paso County. Texas Democrats cannot concede the rural vote and then fail to win the urban vote by a wide margin.

The problems are numerous – fundraising, netroots, grass roots, developing candidates, voter registration, fielding a competitive message. And Richie says he has an improvement plan:

1) Outreach to community and constituency leaders to develop pragmatic, cost-effective ways to communicate with and motivate the Democratic base and attract new voters to the party;
2) Coordinate efforts with County Chairs and SDEC members to provide them with the resources and tools they need to win;
3) Expand the technology the TDP uses to communicate with activists and voters alike and develop more tools like our recently-launched interactive online voter file;
4) Initiate a strategic communications plan to identify Democratic spokespersons in every media market who can appear on local radio, television and print media both in English and Spanish;
5) Reach out to large and small donors alike to raise the funds needed to keep an experienced, campaign staff and fund these programs.

Still absent from this plan is a county-level strategy.

1) Dozens of county governments and county party groups lack functioning and accurate websites. Further, voter registration drives in every county need to be incorporated here. (Yes, even in Loving County.) You can't like our message if you have never heard it.
2) The resources and tools needed to win vary wildly by county, and I have not seen any evidence yet that the party has the ability to accurately identify those things.
3) This sounds like a rehash of the first step, and it does not address the lack of activists in some counties that are in desperate need of local Democratic leadership.
4) There are some positive points here, as long as this is not limited to major print or television markets. Every county has at least one local publication that needs to be reached by the TDP.
5) The hardest part is the money, because we need money to do the other steps, but we don’t have enough partisans and activists giving enough money yet to make the rest happen. We need cost-effective ways to raise funds in the sea of small counties.

We need regional candidate training academies. We need media outreach in every county. We need locally written editorials appearing in every county, every week. We need to register voters all over the state with monthly goals in mind. We need to expand Young Democrats groups on campuses, including smaller colleges, community colleges, and high schools. We need principled and ethical elected officials to carry the standard in Austin and throughout the state. And we need a lot of money to make all of this happen.

[Cross-posted at DailyKos.com]