The Resurgent Reasbeck Returns

I started writing this blog four years ago this month. I started it partly because I was becoming politically active again after a hiatus of over 30 years, and partly because I was looking for something new to do.

And then there was Texas CD-22 and the memorable 2006 congressional race that featured more reversals of fortune than you see in a game of Texas Hold “Em.

I loved writing about all things CD-22.

What truly captured my fascination was how former Congressman Tom DeLay and the GOP machine here thought that they would game the system after the primary, and DeLay, who was convinced he wouldn’t be re-elected that year divined a way for him to be replaced on the ballot by someone anointed by the GOP.

All of that crashed and burned beginning with a memorable decision by Sam Sparks that found that because Tom DeLay would not guarantee where he would be living on Election Day – he was being cute – he could not take himself off the ballot. The seminal idea behind the TDP lawyers’ argument, as it turns out, came from a law student.

The GOP, then, had no one on the ballot to oppose Democrat Nick Lampson. Their only alternative was to run a write-in candidate. But there was a large field and if they all ran they would only split the Republican vote. So they then went to great lengths to settle on one write-in candidate and get everyone else to agree not to run.

And that was another idea that went over like a lead balloon.

Because just as soon as Shelley Sekula Gibbs, the crazy-daisy dermatologist that kicked up such a fuss in DC for 2 memorable weeks – she ran for DeLay’s unexpired term – was anointed, two more candidates jumped in. And that was something that I wrote about here.

I had completely forgotten about the posting until I noticed that something I wrote on August 30, 2006 was getting read again. Getting read by the DC crowd and a bunch of people in Wisconsin.

So I became curious and re-read the article. It was all about candidate number 3, Joe Reasbeck. Some completely unknown guy had filed to run as a write-in candidate against Lampson.

“Why is everybody reading this old article,” I asked myself.

And with one click of the mouse I had my answer. Joe Reasbeck is back. Back in the news, back in a race for congress, back opposing anointed ones, and back home.

Back in Wisconsin.

This weekend, Joe Reasbeck announced at a Memorial weekend ceremony in his hometown of Superior, Wisconsin that he was running in the primary, as a Democrat, in the 7th congressional district of Wisconsin. A seat currently occupied by retiring Congressman David Obey.

And it appears that history is repeating itself.

Reasbeck will oppose Democratic State Senator Julie Lassa, the Democrats’ favored candidate. An anointed one, as it were.

Anointed, by my interpretation of a comment attributed to “a party source” by the author of this WSAU website article posted on May 10th:

“Julie Lassa will be the only Democrat to run for the seat that Representative Dave Obey is giving up after 41 years, a party source said.”

I have just a few comments to make on all of this and then I will shut up.

First, what is it about women in politics that drives Reasbeck to run against women now for the second time? Is it the whole anointment thing?

Second, Reasbeck is now a Democrat? Has that always been the case or do we just change parties depending on who is in the majority in the given area that we move to?

Third and finally, if the above is not the case, then the comment by the “party source” is still dead-on accurate, and Julie Lassa actually is the only Democrat to run for Obey’s seat.

So Long, Shelley

I thought that I would be the last to say this, but I am going to miss Shelley Sekula Gibbs. Now that the 2008 Republican primary is finally decided, and Shelley found herself a few votes shy of winning in the Texas CD 22 race against “DC Pete” Olson, it dawned on me today that we aren’t going to have Shelley Sekula Gibbs to kick around any more.

So something has passed, and I must move on. But not before this final nostalgic look back. Not without a final send off.

Not without my farewell video.

Enjoy.



Bye, Shelley.

Election Runoff Night: Waiting on the Count

Two of the races that I am watching tonight are set to go on the Texas Secretary of State website: Democratic: Texas Railroad Commissioner; Republican: Congressman for CD 22. I have yet to find out whether the Fort Bend County Precinct 1 Commissioners races are going to be posted. So far, there is nothing on their Elections Office website.

I’m mainly interested in Railroad Commissioner because of the very strange results we got in the March 4th primary: Mark Thompson, a virtual unknown, nearly pulled off a majority vote with just over 48%. Coming in at a hot 2nd place was Dale Henry, who has been on the ballot for this office before. People are still scratching their heads about that one. The current theory is that he appeared 1st in line on the ballot in a majority of counties, and that alone could have done it, considering the influx of first-time Democratic primary voters this past month who showed up to vote in the presidential primary, and kept right on voting.

We'll just have to see.

This runoff attracts a completely different crowd: hard-core activists and others like me who have nothing better to do with their time. So I am expecting a different result but I am also curious because I have received a great deal of traffic on this blog in the past couple of days: people googling the keywords “Mark Thompson”. So, as I say, we’ll see what we’ll see.

CD 22 ought to be of interest to those of us who are watching the Republicans maneuver to retake their cherished seat in congress once held by Tom DeLay. Will Shelley Sekula Gibbs pull it off one more time and get enough people to go to the polls to vote for her as she did last time? Last time they had to dial her 16-character long name into a poorly designed electronic voting machine (although they say that “voter intent” was clearly indicated if a voter entered “SSG” in one case, and “Draculac _ _ t” in another”).

Sekula Gibbs shall evermore be known as the candidate who places calls and sends campaign mailers to Demorcrats who early vote. It went on up until even last night.

At the 11th hour, who does Shelley get to do a robocall for her? Norm Mason, the guy who was chairman of the Republican Party in Fort Bend in 1984 when the county and state went a deep crimson red. Norm wants Shelley to be the candidate because she is “the local conservative we can trust”. He warns us not to believe “the negative attacks against her” from this “Washington staffer with no record”.

Will Pete “I-am-not-Tom-DeLay-unless-you-think-I-am” Olson take the prize with his DC moneybag contributions? Sure he’s only been living in district for 7 months but that’s just because he spent 5 years in the military serving his country, and then 13 years in Washington serving Texas senators.

And learning the ropes.

So I am interested in this race, too, to see which of the two kinds of Republicans we have in CD 22 is going to prevail in this election.

It should give us some idea of Republican demographics, demographics of the activist kind, that is. If the early vote is any indication, where 1,120 Republicans voted early in the runoff, as opposed to 18,881 on March 4th, the voters who show up to decide between “DC Pete” and wacky Shelley are a truly high-graded cross section of the Republican vote.

In other words, “”The Faithful”.

Well here it is at 7 PM:

Congressional District 22:
Early vote totals show Pete Olson with 3802 votes (78.42%) to Sekula Gibbs’ 1106 (21.57%).

I can hear them say it right now over at SSG’s election watch: “It’s only the early vote”.

Railroad Commissioner:
Early vote totals show Mark Thompson leading with 8243 early votes (58.1%) to Dale Henry’s 5946 (41.9%).

Geez.

UPDATE (10:04 PM):

Now with some votes coming in, it is looking more and more like Shelley has had her last hurrah in front line Republican politics. With over 78% of the precincts reporting, Pete Olson’s voters outnumber the Shelster’s by more than two to one (his 68% to her 32%). This was predictable, and I think we all saw this coming.

The upside is that Nick Lampson finally gets to run against Tom DeLay.

And Fort Bend County finally came up with their numbers. In Precinct 1, it looks like Republicans and Democrats have both voted NO on Tom Stavinoha. Total Democratic votes with 100% of precincts reporting is 846 (577 Morrison, 269 Wallingford) and Republican votes against Stavinoha, for Greg “I Love Me Some Toll Road” Ordineaux is 2077 (with 76% of precincts reporting). That’s a total of 1676 votes (36.44%) for Tom Stavinoha, and 2923 votes (65.56%) against him.

If anything, this election was a referendum on Tom Stavinoha. Have a nice retirement, Tom!

Now about that Railroad Commissioner race. What’s with that? Someday I am going to figure this out. One thing’s fore sure, someone dropped the ball, here. It’s either that the Dale Henry campaign was DOA, or everyone Googled “Mark Thompson” and liked what they saw.

Swiftboat Veterans for Shelley

Sounds like wacky Shelley Sekula Gibbs is spending that campaign cash with all the stops pulled this week for Texas CD 22. Or maybe I should say, it looks like she and someone else is. My phone is literally ringing off the hook. Today, after confirming that I was the person on his phone list, I listened to a live voice read a script to me all about how I didn’t want a carpetbagger for a congressman and that I should not vote for Pete Olson.

There was no question and answer period however. After the paid phone banker finished reading his script, he said “Thank you for listening”. At which I replied, “Well wait-a-minute here, who do I vote for?”

What was his reply?

“Click.”

I guess that was a stupid question.

Or maybe it was a question asked to a guy being paid by someone who doesn’t want their helping hands showing up on the Sekula Gibbs campaign finance reports.

Then I checked my voicemail, where I discovered that I got a robocall from John O’Neill.

Remember John O’Neill? One of those guys who smeared John Kerry’s military record so that his candidate, George “Chickenhawk” Bush could have a 2nd term? Well it sounds like John is doing a bang-up business selling his name and his message to anyone who has the campaign lucre to buy it. Enter Shelley Sekula Gibbs. Here is the message that I heard, transcribed:

"This is John O’Neill, I was a swiftboat veteran in Vietnam. In 2004 I helped defeat John Kerry’s lies about us and our military. I’ve watched the runoff for the 22nd congressional district. I’m shocked by Pete Olson’s false claims about Shelley Sekula Gibbs, like she doesn’t support the military. I know her personally. Her father, grandfather and seven uncles are veterans. During her 20 year career as a doctor Shelley has often given free medical care to veterans. Please friends, join me again as you did in defeating John Kerry in 2004. Teach the Washington lobbyists behind Olson that the 22nd congressional district can’t be bought for 'DC Pete' with Washington money. Vote for Shelley Sekula Gibbs."

Irony, it seems, has no limits.

Here we have Sekula Gibbs, whose entire personal military experience involved listening to the stories told to her by her father and uncles, being defended by a swiftboat veteran as he attacks a fellow veteran. A fellow Navy veteran, no less.

It’s amazing how many friends money will buy, isn’t it? I suspect that O’Neill hasn’t begun to smear. He probably has a long list of recordings to make this year to smear fellow veterans, Democratic or Republican, it doesn’t really seem to matter.

So wacky Shelley’s message, crafted for the truly confused, goes out this weekend to God knows how many households.

Again, money appears to be no object, and call after call is probably being made to Democratic households and to households of registered voters who HAVE ALREADY voted this past week (as I have), with that information completely available to the public for 5 dollars and a smile.

Shelley’s people might be awash in cash to spend, but they don’t seem to be awash in brains to use.

But that’s OK, I prefer a potential Republican in the general election to be cash-rich and intelligence-poor.

And let’s hope that this phone strategy works for SSG, just as the swiftboat strategy worked for Dubya four years ago. A mindless, confused phone message for mindless, confused Republican voters. Because we need Shelley Sekula Gibbs on the ballot this fall, because truth to tell, she simply scares the bejesus out of some people.

And entertains the rest of us to no end.

That’s MISTER Half Empty, Bub

You will never guess who just got called a “prominent blogger” by one of the Republicans running for US Congress in Texas CD 22?

Nope, wrong, not Ariana Huffington, but good guess.

Wrong. Not Markos Moulitsas. And that, by the way, was a terrible guess.

Me. Half Empty. My blog.

I am a prominent blogger. Wait, let me type that again with emphasis: I am a prominent blogger.

Which of the two Republicans fighting it out for the ill-fated opportunity to run against Nick Lampson finally recognized the greatness of me? Pete Olson. I swear it’s true.

I first became aware of my new status when I read Susan’s morning posting today. It is a good one on how candidate Pete Olson has himself so intertwined with the benefactors, beneficiaries and political consultants that were once the country of none other than Tom “The Hammer” DeLay, that we can’t really decipher which end is Pete’s and which is Tom’s.

Further on down she mentioned an email that she received from Pete Olson saying that the Democrats want Shelley Sekula Gibbs to win because she’ll be easier to beat in November.

No kidding, I thought to myself. What a brilliant plan. Then I read on.

“As proof of this valuable information, he quotes an unnamed "prominent" blogger who says, ‘I want Shelley Sekula Gibbs to win because she will not only be the easiest candidate for Lampson to defeat in November, but also because we all should be in for a few laughs between now and then.’”

I read it over again. It sounded familiar. Heeeeey, isn’t that what I posted 2 days ago? It is! Right here!

Here is what he said in the email (thanks Susan):

“Democrats are now opening (sic) stating that they would prefer to have Shelley as the nominee. Just yesterday, a prominent local Democrat blogger wrote this on his Website:” (see above).

So according to Pete Olson, Half Empty is “a prominent local Democrat blogger”.

Oh, Pete.

If you only knew. Yes the Chron sometimes picks up my blog and posts a link to it on their Opinion page under their “Blog Watch: What they're saying around town”. But by and large, Pete, I have about 6 readers.

Maybe 7 now, huh?

But that’s alright Pete, I’ll be prominent for you if that’s what you need.

I have to laugh. I’ll bet the only reason that Pete, or one of his DeLay Drones, took a look at my blog through the Chron link (a safe assumption, I think) is that the Chron shortened the title I gave it from “Texas Primary Runoffs: Oh, To Be A Republican” to “Oh, To Be A Republican”. I am betting that I got most of my traffic from that from Republicans who were very curious why someone, anyone, would ever put that exact sentence out on the internets.

I can’t get the feel of it. What do prominent bloggers do? What do they say? Should I put a shingle outside the closet that I call my study that says “Half Empty - Prominent Democrat(ic) Blogger – Knock Then Enter”?

Should I throw away my bathroom deodorizer?

More to the point, does this “prominent blogger” stuff pay anything?

Texas Primary Runoffs: Oh, To Be a Republican

Texas primary runoff early voting starts Monday, March 31st. I’ll be there to exercise my vote, even if there is only a single item on the ballot. And in my case, there is only a single item on the ballot. But I’ll be there anyway.

It sounds like a very ho-hum deal, to have to vote for Texas Railroad Commissioner, and truth to tell, no one is banging my door down, shoving push cards in my face, or doing robocalls for either candidate.

It’s definitely not very exciting.

Some I know will rear up in protest, because for them having an effective public advocate on the Railroad Commission is paramount to their interests. Uppermost in their minds. And I give them credit for their advocacy. Yes, this is an important position and the only state-wide Democratic nomination still in contention.

But I can’t help but think that my, and everyone else’s appearance at the Democratic polls this coming week is going to be a flip-flop compared to what we had on March 4th. On March 4th, Democrats showed up at Fort Bend County polls to the tune of 1.8 times that of Republicans on the same day. 13% of registered voter showed up to vote Democratically compared to only 7% of registered voters to vote in the primary of the Dark Side.

Democrats were energized by the competition at the presidential level. For Republicans the issue had been all but decided, only needing Mike Huckabee to stop and get in line with the others.

Not so in the runoff.

While Democrats in my position in Fort Bend will go to the polls to vote for either Dale Henry or Mark Thompson in their statewide Railroad Commissioner runoff, Republicans, those that didn’t vote in the Democratic primary, anyway, still have a critical choice to make: who do they think will be able to beat Congressman Nick Lampson in November.

Oh, if only I could help them out.

I find myself in an unique position of being a cheerleader for Shelley Sekula Gibbs. She of the pink leggings, the wacky lady who came dressed as a shrimp for the Sugar Land Shrimp Festival, and as a . . . well some sort of European peasant girl for some other cultural festival. And finally, the one who won a special election running against an oriental herb doctor, a retired career military officer, an ex high school wrestler, a Libertarian and a former Lampson opponent from the old days.

Yes, although she lost as a write-in candidate against Nick Lampson in the general election, Shelley won the special election against that crew, with a runoff not needed, and finds herself in a runoff election this time against a new foe: former senatorial chief staffer Pete Olson.

Olson, I think, would be the one who could run a credible campaign against our moderate Democratic congressman. However, he handicaps himself, somewhat, in that he must now paint himself as the more conservative of the two Republicans, which makes things tough for him in November when he runs against Lampson, someone who will draw votes from both parties and the independents as well. If that’s how Olson wins the runoff, by convincing voters that Shelley is the least conservative, then that’s good news for Nick.

If on the other hand, Shelley wins based on her name recognition and successfully smearing a carpetbagger label all over Olson, once again, that’s good news for Nick.

That must be why Nick seemed to be so happy when he showed up at the SD 18 convention yesterday. For Nick, it’s definitely “Good news, better news”.

But I still find myself in Sekula Gibbs’ cheering section right up to the end. In that, I find myself in the curious position of being in complete agreement with the blogger who authors the ultra rightwing blog “Rhymes With Right”. He left a comment here a week or so ago, which I need to bring up front.

“Yes, a brief period relative to the time he has been out of the district. It's not like the man retired from the Navy six months ago after a 20 year career. And the reality is that Olson maintained no significant connection to the district during his time on the staff of Phil Gramm and John Cornyn, which constituted the bulk of his career outside of CD22.”

“And it may shock you to hear this, but just because i support the reelection of John Cornyn, whose work in the US Senate I consider to be quite good, does not mean that I accept his every political endorsement as if it were divine revelation.”

“I'll take the candidate I know and trust.”

So not only do he and I share a common profession in the teaching of eager young minds, yes RWR is a high school teacher, he and I also see eye to eye on this issue, but for completely different reasons.

I want Shelley Sekula Gibbs to win because she will not only be the easiest candidate for Lampson to defeat in November, but also because we all should be in for a few laughs between now and then. RWR, an ardent Sekula Gibbs fan, wants her to win because he knows and trusts her.

Together, we make a great team.

TX 22: A Study In Base Appeal

Coming off of yesterday’s post on how my superdelegate, Nick Lampson of Texas Congressional District 22, should cast his uncommitted vote for the Democratic presidential nominee, I decided to take a re-look at what the Dark Side is doing in their runoff race.

It made the KTRK news (ABC Houston), with the story’s news clip and text found here. The race is building in contentiousness as Republicans Shelley Sekula Gibbs and Pete Olson are in an elbow contest to convince the Republican base voters just who is the most conservative of the two.

“She’s a flip-flopper,” is what Pete Olson seems to be saying when he points to a Planned Parenthood questionnaire that exposes Sekula Gibbs as a flaming baby killer. When confronted with the fact that she was once “pro-choice”, Sekula Gibbs attests to a “conversion in [her] heart”, pointing to that part of her anatomy. This is just the right thing to say when appealing to the evangelical neoconservatives that form the base of Dark Side Republicanism in CD 22. A veritable “Come to Jesus” line if ever there was one.

“He’s a carpetbagger,” is what Sekula Gibbs seems to be saying when she points to the fact that Olson is “residence challenged”. Olson, who has family roots in the Bay Area, was sent to CD 22 by the Washington establishment to put up a strong and well-funded opposition to Sekula Gibbs, who put on quite an embarrassing show in her 3-week stint in Washington at the close of 2006.

“I've been here for over 20 years. I've raised my family here, paid taxes here. I have a small business here, medical practice in Webster for over 20 years, and I'm very committed. I have very deep roots in the community and he just got here about six months ago.”

Not that that wouldn’t be an easy charge to duck. It really surprises me that Olson hasn’t beaten Shelley over the head with the fact that one can’t very well live in-district for 20 or so years AND be a naval aviator. Yes, while Shelley was expressing her teenage patients’ blackheads in Houston, Pete Olson was flying a P-3C Orion off of carriers in the Persian Gulf, looking for enemy submarines.

Or something like that.

That notwithstanding, Shelley’s death grip on Olson thus far is his carpetbagger status, something that didn’t work very well against Nick Lampson in 2006, either.

So in the main, what is going to matter in this runoff election in April is not who has lived here longest, but who is the most conservative. Because that is what is going to rile up the faithful neoconservative voters who will go out to the polls during what is arguably an historic year for Democrats to retake the country. Only those who have not been disillusioned by their own party, the true hard core activist Republicans who have not, nor would ever, vote in a Democratic primary are going to show up at the Republican voting booths this April.

Contrast that to Nick Lampson. Nick is sitting in the catbird’s seat. Unopposed in the primary, Lampson did not have to appeal to the Democratic base, or any base for that matter. Nick’s center aisle politics allow him to throw bones to either side at will. While Olson and Sekula Gibbs confine themselves to the courting of the right wing extremists of the Republican Party in CD-22, Lampson can concentrate on his appeal to independents, centrists, and moderate Republicans and Democrats, leaving the left wing of the Democratic Party to watch on and participate, or not.

The one thing that gets in the way of all of this is presidential politics. As Miya Shay concludes in her piece, the one external thing that is going to affect this race in November, despite the outcome for Republicans in April, is what happens in the Democratic Party on the run-up to the convention. Who the Democratic presidential nominee is will play heavily in this race, as well as in other heavily contested toss-up districts across the country.

Which candidate will be of the most help to Nick Lampson to defeat his Republican opponent in November? Indeed, to help any Democratic candidate in a close election? We’ve all heard about “Hillary’s negatives”. About how a Hillary Clinton nomination will polarize the country and draw Republicans out of their holes and hides to vote straight Republican tickets in November. Clinton’s partisans have written that there is no proof that this scenario is valid, and up to a couple of weeks ago, I’d have given them points on that argument. But not after March 4th. Not after hearing about registration changes in Pennsylvania. Not after there is documentation that Republicans cross over to vote in Democratic primaries for two conflicting reasons: 1) to get rid of “the Clintons” forever by voting for Obama, or 2) to vote for the weaker of the two candidates, Clinton, in their view, to face John McCain in November.

This is solid evidence for an anti-Clinton backlash that is primed to strike in November, should Hillary Clinton defy the current math, and become the Democratic presidential nominee.

This is food for thought for superdelegate Nick Lampson. Does he appease the Democratic party moderates and opt for Clinton? Especially now that so many in the media are saying that Obama made the wrong “Wright decision”? In doing so, does he stack the deck against himself in November? Or does he go with the progressive wing’s Obama candidacy, a move that is also supported by voter preference in his own congressional district, after what can only be called an Obama oratory coup?

Fun times for Nick Lampson.

Texas CD 22: Runoffs Gone Wild

As anyone who pays attention already knew, the 10 little Republicans who crowded stage after stage this primary season battling for the Republican nomination for congressman in “The Fighting 22nd” have now been whittled down to the two everyone expected to get to a runoff: Shelley Sekula Gibbs and Pete Olson.

Surprises still abound though: Sekula Gibbs came in with a much weaker showing than I ever would have expected, getting only 16,681 votes or 29.72% of the vote. Olson did a little better than I expected, with 11,630 votes, or 20.72% of the vote.

Sekula Gibbs’ totals are the highest, in my opinion, because she is the candidate with built-in name recognition. Her write-in race against Nick Lampson in 2006 was all in the news. People had to learn how to activate the write-in utility of the Dial-A-Vote eSlate system that our county commissioners foisted upon Fort Bend County voters, then had to get her name spelled in some reasonable way so the elections officers could interpret “voter intent” (although to this day I still have trouble figuring out how they knew that the word “dragonc_ _ t ” meant Shelley).

Olson’s numbers are fairly high for someone who had nine fingers pointed at him with nine voices uttering the words “Stranger! Stranger!” all day. One can imagine that to these voters, that doesn’t matter so much. What mattered, I think, is that he wasn’t Shelley.

Because there’s that other newsy thing that I doubt many people have forgotten yet. The thing where Shelley won the special election, went to DC, moved into her office, took on Tom DeLay’s old staffers, waited for George and Dick to come and witness her swearing in, raised a fit when they didn’t show, had her entire staff walk out on her, and called for a congressional investigation about a standard housekeeping procedure.

Remember that? Well you can bet the DC guys that sent Pete Olson to tame this congressional district, a district that went maverick on them and elected a Democrat, hadn’t forgotten either, which is why they sent Pete in.

Upon first reflection, I am thinking that the low numbers that Shelley received are what I am starting to call the Obama/Limbaugh Effect. Rush ordered his ditto-heads to the polls in Texas and they cast their votes for Hillary Clinton. Other rightwing Republicans, maybe more fatalistic ones, rushed to the polls and voted for Obama so that they could finally get rid of Hillary Clinton once and for all (a Democrat was going to win, they said, they just didn’t want it to be Clinton). The net result is a loss of primary votes for wacky, wacky Shelley Sekula Gibbs, the neocon’s best friend.

Votes she can’t have back in the runoff, either, because they voted in the Democratic primary.

Putting, I fear, Pete Olson in the catbird seat. Now all Pete has to do is get the endorsements of his main rivals: John Manlove and Bob Talton. Dean Hrbacek was once a Sekula Gibbs cheerleader, so who knows what he will do?

With two endorsements and a much, much lower Republican turnout in the runoff, Olson is a real contender, so we ought to be seeing a real horse race here.

This upsets me a little, because I was looking for a good laugh and lots of entertainment from the GOPers who want to mount a campaign against “Liberal Lampson” (oh God I just WISH it were true). If Pete knocks Shelley out of the race, there goes the comedy.

On the bright side, if Pete Olson carries the day in the runoff, the Republicans will lose one of their biggest (and silliest) claims, that Nick Lampson is an outsider, a Beaumont carpet bagger.

Next to Olson, Nick Lampson is paisano.

The Fighting 22nd: Shelley is Conducting Another Push Poll

I was just writing tonight’s piece on all the Clinton supporter defections to Obama when I got a phone call from a pollster. I stayed on and didn’t brush the young man off because he said he would ask only three questions. I said “OK, fire away”.

“If you were to vote today for the Republican candidate for Texas Congressional District 22, which of the following would you vote for: Shelley Sekula Gibbs, Pete Olson, John Manlove, Dean Hrbacek, Bob Talton or Jim Squier”?

I said “What? You didn’t name all of them!” He laughed and offered that maybe I was looking at his screen.

“No," I said. "I know there are ten of them running and you only named six”.

He laughed again and then asked me which one would I vote for, so I hemmed and hawed a bit and came up with “’Crazy Bob’ Talton”.

“OK [I could hear a click in the background as my vote was recorded], now if there was a runoff election, which of these two candidates would you vote for, Pete Olson or Shelley Sekula Gibbs?”

I thought and thought for a bit, then said what can be construed as a factual statement: “I wouldn’t vote in the runoff. I wouldn’t vote for either of those jokers”.

Oddly enough, they had a place to record that vote, too.

Home stretch. Third question:

“Now if someone were to tell you that one of the candidates had not lived in the congressional district until just recently, what would you think about that? Would you be inclined to vote for that candidate?”

Busted.

I started laughing. “Oh! It’s a push poll.” Pollster said “What?” Reply: “A PUSH poll!” I laughed again and then said “Tell Shelley I said ‘Hi’.”

And I replaced the receiver.

Honestly, it has been really quiet here at my place since my vote has been registered on Fort Bend County’s Early Vote tally sheet. Apparently Shelley Sekula Gibbs’ campaign has not been clued in to the fact that you can really trim your call lists if you get a list of people who have already cast their ballot. A poll is one thing. It gets an idea of who is ahead. But this was a push poll designed to persuade voters. A call wasted on me, for more than one reason.

So it is as I suspected, and Pete Olson, the DC insider, the golden-haired boy sent to the district to derail Shelley from getting on the November ballot again, is the one the Sekula Gibbs campaign fears most.

And well they should. Here’s what I get from my personal lawn-sign-at-residences poll. I’ve seen 4 Taltons, 2 Manloves, 2 Bazzys, 1 Hrbacek, 2 Squiers and 8 Olsons. I have seen NO Sekula Gibbs signs anywhere. And more importantly, where I saw those annoying maize and blue Sekula Gibbs signs in October/November 2006, there are Olson signs planted there now.

This is the absolute truth. Swear to Jesus.

So even with Tom DeLay gone for now going on to 19 months, Texas Congressional District 22 has not lost its daffiness. Everyone’s pointing their fingers at Olson, calling him an outsider. Threats of lawsuits for defamation have been made, heads have been photoshopped onto a slimmer, trimmer body, one vet is being accused of exaggerating his military record, and Sekula Gibbs is still conducting push polls.

Well, my Republican neighbors, there are 5 more shopping days until the March 4th primary.

I would say “choose wisely”, but since that’s not an option in your case, choose the best person to give us all a big laugh in the fall.

You guys are getting pretty good at that.

Texas CD 22 4th Q Fundraising Wars: The Results Are In

Now that the 4th quarter campaign finance reports are in and digested, I guess it’s time to take a look at my favorite Texas congressional race: The Fighting 22nd. CD 22, that is.

Amazingly, the financial juggernaut that was the Lampson campaign in 2006, where there was always talk of “that 3 million dollars” is a mere shadow of its previous greatness.

While still posting totals that exceed his GOP rivals, Nick Lampson’s 4th quarter intake was an abysmal $130,937.50, placing him in the rankings as 2nd to last.

Besting Lampson’s intake twice over was Shelley Sekula Gibbs’ whopping $263,059.80. Pete Olson, who was the reputed “it’ll be me and her in the runoff” man, he who had the DC connections, the organization, and the machine in place, came in third at $204,837.50 – still ahead of the incumbent, but woefully behind dark horse (at least in this area) former Pasadena mayor John Manlove who pulled in a respectable $228,610.00. Surprisingly, given his much self-vaunted conservative appeal and the only “experienced candidate”, Bob Talton, while beating Lampson, posted a $167,450.00 total, 4th from the top. Even Jim “Reverend Jim” Squier beat Nick Lampson’s total by over 30 large, posting a respectable $152,549.00. Pulling up dead last in the money raising category is Dean Hrbacek at a paltry $100,592.00.

Oh well, money isn’t everything, hey Dean? Not when he has an entire blog that is subliminally dedicated to his candidacy.

Oh, the other guys? Bazzy, Dunbar, Klock and Rowley? No FEC filings. Nada.

So is this news? That all but one of his GOP challengers have beat Lampson in the fundraising game? Well I guess it’s news when you want to make it news, but really, what does it matter what Nick raised last quarter? He’s running unopposed in March. His challengers are raising money to spend against EACH OTHER until March. And then, only one of them will emerge to run in November. Now I call THAT half a million plus dollars in well-spent GOP money. Good job, guys.

No, Lampson has another timetable to deal with, and assuming that the average CD 22 GOP voter is as cracked as I suspect they are, he will be facing Shelley Sekula Gibbs in his first ever head-to-head campaign with her. It is then that we will expect to see an influx of funds from the national party and out-of-state sources as Democrats circle the wagons to protect swing districts from Karl Rove’s “Hit List Campaign”. Watch for the lukewarm funding that SSG gets from the RNCC at that time. Long-term memory is nonexistent in CD 22, but there are still those in DC that remember Shelley’s glorious weeks serving out Tom DeLay’s term during the lame duck session of 2006.

I think they’re still shuddering over that.

Still, Nick Lampson will need to look in-district for some local monetary support. I know there are some individuals and organizations that are wildly enthusiastic about having Nick as their Democratic congressman. There, Nick will find a replenished well in which to lower his dipper. Not so among others from the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, who range between dismayed and shocked at some of his floor votes. This is not who we meant to send to congress, they cried.

The obvious reply? OK, so who else are you going to vote for?

Good point. Point well taken as a matter of fact. But the fact is, a vote for Nick, in my specific case, is a single event that takes care of each and every Democrat on the ballot as I am a straight-ticket Democratic Party voter. It’s nearly effortless. It’s more effort to get out of my car than to vote for every Democrat on the ballot. The effort lies in getting that old check book out. Who should I send this check to? Who, who, who? The guy who voted away my FISA rights?

Yeah, right.

Sekula Gibbs Touts Racist Islamophobic Blog

I usually don’t peruse the candidate websites on “the Dark Side”. So it took a friend to point out to me that Dr. and former Texas CD-22 congresswoman Shelley Sekula Gibbs, MD, is proudly touting a local right wing blog as a news article that posted something concerning her campaign. And not just your run-of-the mill right wing blog. This blog has, in the past, posted virulent and vile racist remarks. Remarks that would make a moderate conservative cringe.

So what do I suppose? If she is touting this blog, is she also supporting these racist remarks?

Well I don’t know whether Sekula Gibbs is a racist or not, but for a congressional candidate to promote a blog that is patently racist does not look right.

OK, the specifics. The blog is called “Rhymes With Right” and it is principally run by a social studies teacher who teaches eager young minds in Clear Creek ISD. [No links here, go to Shelley’s website]

A particularly good distillation of the racist remarks can be found at this progressive Democrat’s website. I will extract a few for your edification below [some remarks are just so over the top that it violates the Half Empty PG-13 rating].

"That's one more dead terrorist in Hell with Allah."

"In return, we will ship the Arab Muslims in the United States -- egardless of their citizenship -- back to the Middle East...They and their relatives back in their homelands have shown their utter inablility (sic) to live at peace with neighbors who are different from themselves....After all, if the Jews are not a good fit in the Middle East, why should the unassimilable Muslims be welcome in America?"

"Sorry, no respect for any ethnicity or religion with this scumbag...Just following the example of Muhammad, I guess. I recall that he liked sex with little girls, too. Would somebody please remind me what is there in Islam that is good and noble?"

"Why are we sending one thin dime to a backwater, Third World hell-hole like New Orleans?"

Yes, sadly enough, this is a blog by a teacher. I can never figure out how a teacher can be a right-wing political conservative. I know that, like slime mold, they exist, but I just can’t explain it.

And I also can’t explain why Shelley Sekula Gibbs’ campaign lists this racist blog alongside articles from more prominent mainstream media as it does. It’s kind of like going to a Mercedes dealsrship and finding an old Yugo on the showroom floor alongside brand new Mercedes-Benzes.

So clearly, things aren’t adding up. Gee, it must be CD-22 gearing up for another election year with politics as usual.

Vultures Flocking To Pick Over GOP’s Texas CD-22 Seat

Oh Thank you, Jesus! Now we truly have a feast on our hands. State Rep. Robert “Crazy Bob” Talton has just filed papers with the FEC informing the world of his intention to run for US Congress next year.

GOPers were really upset that they lost Tom DeLay’s seat to a Democrat last year, so much so that Karl Rove put Texas CD-22 at the top of his list of districts to target in the 2008 elections.

Oh, that’s right, Karl Who? The guy who shared Jack Abramoff’s assistant, I think.

One has to wonder which of the crowded field will CD-22 Republican stalwarts throw in for.

Will it be Crazy Bob? Here is his congressional campaign website. Of the bunch, I’d say he will be the personal and political favorite of the DeLay base here in CD-22.

Will it be Dean Hrbacek (pronounced Her-BAH-check as I found out yesterday). The guy who has established an exploratory committee, but apparently has spent some money on a telephone push poll.

What about Judge James “Reverend Jim” Squier? This Houston judge, I hear, is a real nutcase. A family court judge who counsels divorcing couples to make up and make nice because Jesus wants it.

Then we have Pasadena Mayor John Manlove. Manlove. Can you imagine DeLay’s Blue Hair Patrol matriarchs voting for a guy whose very own surname makes GLBT members smile?

Or how about Pete Olsen? John Cornyn’s former chief of staff? Yep, that’s what I thought. Pete Who?

And finally, what about the campaign fund front runner? Silly Shelley Sekula Dragonc—t Rodriguez Gibbs? What the heck, the woman has 180 large in her campaign coffers and has actually never stopped campaigning for the job that she won for a month before having to give it up to a Democrat.

Six candidates to choose from. Six. What a feast.

Hey, that reminds me of a little show that mother nature put on for me a couple of weeks back in my own neighborhood. There were six of them then, too, as I recall. Half Empty prediction: it’s going to look pretty much like this:

FEC Filings Are Up (Sort Of)

We have some hard data on political contributions for the 2nd quarter up now at the FEC. I wanted to find out who were Mikal Watts’ monetary supporters only to be disappointed in not finding any records for a Texas Democratic candidate for US Senate other than Barbara Ann Radnofsky and Ken Bentsen.

Nope, nothing there yet on Watts.

So I decided to take a look at the congressional candidates in Texas CD 22.

First, my favorite foul-up, Dr. Shelley Sekula Gibbs, M.D.

It seems Shelley is still being carried by the Republican Party’s RNCC. In the first quarter, the RNCC spent nearly $93,000 on behalf of Sekula Gibbs. That doesn’t go down in her contributor’s list but it’s nice to see anyway. PACs and institutions seem to be taking a wait and see stance, as she logs only $7750 from three of them, the biggest check being from a Dermatologist PAC. Individual contributions total $169,996, with 23 of them listed for a total of $25,510. Eleven of these were from fellow medicos. Other individual contributors include Bob Perry and his wife, kicking in $4600 apiece, and Dean Hrbacek, who probably would like that $1000 check back now that he’s thinking of running also.

And speaking of self-funding a campaign, now I come to find out that the 2nd highest Republican campaign fund in CD 22 was that of Giannibicego Hoa Tran who loaned herself $34,796, repaid the loan and is still in debt to the tune of over $17,000. I wonder how many anti-nuclear bomb elixirs she was able to sell as a result of her candidacy.

Other GOPers on the list include Pat Baig, Tom DeLay, Bob Talton and David Wallace. DeLay’s filing, as expected, doesn’t add up. Undeclared Bob Talton filed a report filled with zeros, and Un-un-declared David Wallace has $23 in cash on hand.

So, SSG excepting, it’s looking pretty grim for Republicans.

It’s a different story for Nick Lampson. Nick logs $191,629 in individual contribution and lists those from 61 individuals who contributed $81,950. The vast majority of these are attorneys. Group/PAC contributions to a total of 3 committees (one principal, two authorized) total $314,120. Those groups listed in the three committees contributed a total of $225,950. It looks like Nick has a lot of support from labor unions. Energy companies weigh in as well, with one notable $2000 check from Dick Cheney’s favorite corporation, Halliburton.

So it looks like Nick has taken in just over $505,000 so far, with 60 percent from large individual contributors and PACs and the rest, 40 percent from those who contributed below the individual report level.

A far cry from the days of DeLay.

DeLay Aftershock: Houston Won’t Fund Day Labor Hall

It’s not quite blowback, so I’ll call it an echo, or better yet, a Texas-style aftershock.

It was back in the early campaign season of 2006 when Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, then on Houston’s City Council, needed a headline. She was trying to get her party’s nomination to succeed Tom DeLay as a write-in on the November ballot. How does a dermatologist get on the news?

So she looked in the Republican manual of politics in Texas, and under the section entitled “Fear Mongering” she found her solution.

By bashing Mexicans.

Houston had a Day Labor Center in it. City funds were paying for it. It was a haven for day laborers to congregate and be available for hiring by local contractors and others. And it was a target for anti-immigrant groups who said that the center was just a big neon sign that said “Welcome to the USA. Come here to work, then go and hide”.

Coincidently just in the news around that time was the killing of Officer Rodney Johnson, a Houston city policeman, by Juan Leonardo Quinterno, a Mexican national illegally residing in Houston.

All Shelley had to do was to connect the dots from cop killers to day laborers to day labor center and she had what she needed to get her to DC: an issue that got her some headlines in Texas.

Sekula-Gibbs stayed on point with this issue all through the election. However, the day labor center remained open for business.

Not any more.

The Houston City Council voted not to fund the center in the next fiscal year. So the center will close its doors, leaving day laborers no alternative but to hang out at the traditional corners where trucks will stop by to pick them up as in the days before the day labor center.

So now everyone is that much safer.

City Councilwoman Carol Alvarado says that she will work to restore funds for the labor center. Quoted in the Houston Chronicle, Alvarado said, “These certainly do serve a valid purpose. It's a safe, secure, controlled environment where people can go and look for work instead of hanging around on street corners and disrupting communities.”

So now, according to Councilwoman Alvarado, everyone is not that much safer.

Field of GOP Candidates Who WON’T Run Against Nick Lampson Ever Widens

It’s getting to be a big club: the assemblage of possible Republican challengers to Nick Lampson’s Texas CD-22 House seat, who have decided NOT to do this, just gets bigger and bigger. John Zerwas is the latest to join the club.

It all started way back in January 2006 when Tom DeLay initiated what is coming to be a popular movement in his former district: deciding not to run against Nick Lampson. Recall the Burka story about how Fort Bend County Chairman Eric Thode received a phone call from one of DeLay’s staffers, revealing that Tom was having second thoughts on being the CD-22 GOP candidate in ’06.

What followed were GOP machinations that would have made Machiavelli envious, resulting in DeLay being declared ineligible to run for Congress by Texas state GOP chair Tina Benkiser.

In the circus act that followed, GOP office holders avalanched onto the political stage - all of them vying for the GOP CD-22 nomination. We had, in no particular order:

Paul Bettencourt
Robert Eckels
Andy Meyers
Bob Talton
David Wallace
Shelley Sekula-Gibbs
Charlie Howard
Mike Jackson
Tom Campbell

When the news came down from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, a ruling later upheld by Justice Scalia, that any Republican opposition to Nick Lampson would have to be as a write-in, most of these candidates scattered as ashes to the four winds.

So is it happening again? You be the judge. Of the eight names I have seen mentioned as likely to run against Nick, five are now joining the club started by Tom DeLay, which has been renamed the “I-Won’t-Run-Against-Lampson-Because-Apparently-He’s-Not-Nancy-Pelosi’s-Lapdog Republicans”:

David Wallace – won’t even run for re-election. Fork firmly stuck in him.
Paul Bettencourt – Has kids in school and needs a paycheck so he can’t quit his job.
John Zerwas – Also has a family that he doesn’t want to leave while he is in DC.
Charlie Howard – If Talton’s in Charlies’ out
Larry Taylor – If Talton’s in Larry’s out.

That leaves us with three. Which of the three is least likely to join this growing club? Shelley Sekula Gibbs. She’s in, oh yeah . . .

Which of the three is most likely to join? Bob Talton. He’s crazy but he’s not stupid. If he runs in the Republican primary in March, we have an OPEN SEAT for the state House. An open seat that can easily be changed from Red to Blue. He won by name recognition in ’06; his Democratic opponent needed only another 10% of the vote to win. With no name recognition on the ballot, the race is a toss-up.

All he has to realize is that he would not be running against a Pelosi-controlled marionette, as the other five have, and he’ll see that if he goes for it, he will be personally responsible for the loss of another state House seat with nothing to show for it.

Sweet!

Told Ya So: Bob Talton’s Gonna Run For Congress in TX-22

The Politico has it first, but I’ve been saying for some time now that State Rep Bob Talton wants to be the GOP hero that runs Nick Lampson out of Washington DC.

Here is his campaign website.

Where I had speculation, they have quotes:

"I'm leaning in that direction, but it's not official yet," Talton said.

Talton touted his right-leaning credentials, calling himself "as conservative, if not more" than DeLay. He represents parts of Harris County in the state legislature.

Which makes it really nice. Now we have a field of two who want the Republican candidacy, Crazy Bob Talton and Shelley “She’s So Mean” Sekula Gibbs. Talton is known for his ultra-conservative gay-bashing that rings just slightly gauche in this conservative, but properly conservative district.

Shelley cooked her own goose (or was it turkey?) by showing those 76,924 clueless Republican voters in CD-22, all of those that spun that little dial for her, what a nut case she is when she arrived on the scene, pitched a fit when DeLay’s former staff members didn’t jump when she barked, watched as they walked off, and then demanded a congressional investigation. Hey, we all knew about her and we tried to tell you. You guys just didn’t want to listen.

So who else is in? Well . . . no one so far. We only have people who want out: Paul Bettencourt and David Wallace. That’s not to say that the RNCC isn’t looking under every rock (well, that’s an unfortunate metaphor, isn’t it?) for a “Top Tier” candidate.

Names like Pete Olson (Pete who?), Dean Hrbacek (too many consonants) and state Rep. John “Gas Passer” Zerwas.

Hey RNCC, I keep telling you, you’re missing out on a great candidate. Giannibicego Hoa Tran!

Nuclear Bomb!

Is Memorial Day A Republican Holiday?

You would think so, judging by the things that went on today at the Sugar Land, Texas, City Hall steps and Town Square Plaza (where the 1st in Sugar Land city hall history anti-war protest was held last April).

But I thought that Memorial Day was for all Americans. Democrats are patriots that support our troops and veterans. So what is with the partisan bent that this annual observance has?

First, it probably doesn’t help that every single locally elected official present at the Memorial Day observance was a Republican. The organizer, Fort Bend Precinct 4 Constable Troy Nehls, is a Republican. Yes, the senior law enforcement offices in Texas are partisan offices. One of the main speakers, he actually spoke on two occasions during the observance, was Gary Gillen, who is the Chairman of the Fort Bend County Republican Party. A county commissioner who spoke, also a Republican, was Andy “Encourage Terrorists Vote Democrat” Meyers. Mayor Pro Tem Dennis Parmer, also a Republican, spoke, although speaking is a term I use loosely. He read the official Sugar Land declaration of the Memorial Day observance written by Mayor David Wallace.

David Wallace is also a Republican, but was not in attendance.


Dennis also introduced two city councilmen who were not sitting with the others at the top of the steps. One whose name that I do not recall and another, a newly familiar name, was At Large Position 1 City Councilman Tom Abraham. It will be remembered that Abraham was approached to run as a Democrat in Nick Lampson’s place in 2008. Both Parmer and Abraham are Republicans.

But in seemingly contradictive fashion, and bucking the overall Republican trend, the keynote speaker, the keynote speaker mind you, was the above-mentioned Congressman Nicholas Valentino Lampson. Nick is the recently elected Democratic congressman. Well, he votes with the Democrats more often than not, anyway. He was introduced by some guy who was the emcee. He sounded like a DJ. He introduced Nick as being the Congressman from the "Fighting 22nd". Ha ha.

I found it ironic that the last time he stood on those steps he was surrounded by a gaggle of neoconservative DeLay-ites, one of whom knocked down a 69 year old Lampson supporter. So he was definitely in a hostile environment. But the audience politely, if not reservedly received him with a polite, but scattered applause.

At least they left their air horns home.

Nick spoke with a focus on the middle. Nick is savvy. He knows his audience. He spoke about the war without condemning our participation in the war. That would have flown as high as a 2 ton elephant in this crowd. He spoke of it only in terms of the fallen – which is entirely appropriate on Memorial Day. Ever with the numbers, Nick cited the 186,000 Texans who have served multiple tours in Iraq. He cited the 326 KIAs and the 2500 wounded who were from Texas, thanking them for their ultimate sacrifice.

The mid speech pause met with a polite applause, with, I think, more volume.

But here’s where Nick made huge points with these people.

“We must invest in the healthcare of our veterans. We have a moral obligation to take care of those who serve”.

He announced new legislation that will bring $1.6 billion to directly benefit veterans and their families.

That got people excited and the audience erupted in wild applause. Even the guy who kept yelling “YEAH” to Republicans’ speeches gave Nick one of his “YEAH”s.

Nick’s not running for US Senate, did you hear? More on that one later.

But I want to close on another Republican whom I noted sitting at the top of the steps with the others. None other than Shelley Sekula Gibbs (she left her hyphen at the office) showed up – pinkless. It was really kind of odd. Yes, I guess she is a declared candidate for CD-22 as she still sends out campaign flyers that castigate Nick, but lets just say that it was a little, and I apologize in advance for the near-pun, incongruous.

All of those sitting on the steps were introduced to the audience at the beginning of the observance. All were introduced as Firstname Lastname, Officeheld. All but Shelley. She was simply introduced as Shelley Sekula Gibbs. Not even former congresswoman Shelley Sekula Gibbs. And what did she do? She sat when appropriate, stood when everyone else did, put her hand on her heart appropriately and inappropriately, and . . . that’s about it. What was the point, I asked myself. How did she get on the steps? Ahh. Click here and scroll down to Silver Star Sponsors.

Spending some campaign funds, are we Shelley?

I have pics of the event below. I know, I have to go out and get a real digital camera. Mine is 10 years old this year. It’s older than my cell phone which is now something that people laugh at when they see it.

Shelley Sekula-Gibbs Issues Her Texas CD-22 "Lampson Watch" Missive

I’m going to let others write about how poor Bush’s speech was tonight, mainly because I didn’t watch it. I did get home in time to watch the Democratic Party rebuttal by Jim Webb (D-Va).

I liked what he had to say.

But no, instead I’d like to share with you an email message that was forwarded to me by someone who is still on Shelley Sekula-Gibbs’ list of friends of the congresswoman.

Apparently she is running for US Congress in ’08. She’s got a Lampson Watch going and is going to keep informing the good people of Texas CD 22 what evils their congressman is visiting on them. Am I missing something? Bush has a SOTUS speech to give tonight and she sends this out hours before the speech? But don’t let me summarize, take a look yourself:


Is the woman delusional? Paraphrasing my source of this message, these bills are just about the only ones I am happy that Nick voted “Aye” on. She left the one out about voting to raise the minimum raise, thus placing CD 22 small business owners behind the 8 Ball and raising prices. I guess she would have voted for that one? A Republican who wants to help the poor and underpaid? The Pink One is reverting to her liberal ways.

She left the dig in at the end about Nancy Pelosi, but Shelley should know that Nicholas Valentino Lampson (previously Lampsoni) must always vote the way The Don wishes. Omertà goes back centuries you know.

Does Shelley for one minute think that the people who voted for her in the Special Election aren't absolutely mortified at her behavior during her tenure at DC? They are mortified, and the rest of us still burst out laughing when we think back on it.

Know what I think? I think she’s pissed off that Nick got to plop down $375 million simoleons in Tom DeLay’s old district. I’ll bet she wanted to have that honor. But no, she probably didn’t know about the done deal that Nick brokered back when he was a candidate. By the time she got there she was too busy fussing and kicking up dust about erased computer hard drives and staffers who walk out on her because she is such a mean person.

All of that in exchange for a job she was going to have to leave in November 2007. She was term limited. The Bad: Houston has to plunk down somewhere between $2 and 4 million, to fill her vacant seat. The Good? Former State Rep. Melissa Noriega is very probably going to be elected to that seat this May 12th.

Isn’t it incredibly interesting how all of these things are so cross-linked as in a complex Dan Brown novel?

Oh What Could Have Been - Voters Get a Peek at an Alternative Universe

One thing that is nice about voting twice for Shelley, is that it allows all those eSlate dial-in voters a sneak peek at what would have resulted from all of the trouble they went to, to vote for the Gibbster, had they succeeded in overcoming Lampson’s monumental lead in the polls.

Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, newest member of the Texas congressional delegation, landed in Washington on both feet last Thursday, and by Tuesday managed to piss off Tom DeLay’s entire congressional staff. We heard of it first from the Washington Post and on this blog and that blog, but the juicy details have been absent, and most probably will be for awhile at least. But Roll Call came out with some before unknown accounts of the mass exit of DeLay’s entire staff yesterday. Courtesy of Juanita, we have new and interesting text.

I have quotes.

“She showed up to take over DeLay’s old office on Thursday and, according to sources familiar the office dynamics, was “mean” to the staff. On Tuesday, at her new Member’s open-house reception in the office, sources charged that she was less than pleased that neither President Bush nor Vice President Cheney showed up with the rest of the welcome wagon, despite the fact that others who stopped by included Texas GOP Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn and Texas GOP Reps. Kevin Brady and Michael Burgess. (Apparently, according to sources, she was under the impression that the president of the United States would be there to greet the seven-week Congresswoman.)”

Is that not just the flakiest thing you ever heard? The woman is in total denial of her position. I’d still like the details on how the Shelster was “mean” to the staff, but this expectation of a visit from the Bush and Cheney, who didn’t show, must have embittered the woman to no end because she was not invited to a White House reception for newly elected lawmakers. But Nick was there asking George for advice on retaining his seat in a Republican-favored district in 2008.

From the Roll Call report,

“the DeLay staff they showed their feelings about their new boss Tuesday by walking out of the office en masse and resigning, effective immediately. The DeLay refugees, who included DeLay’s personal chief of staff, David James, walked out of the office, Von Trapp family-style (though without the singing) and huddled at Starbucks to get their wits about them.”

Holy Krishna, this is almost as tasty as the open for all to see Republican brouhaha this past summer. No, I take it back, this is truly tasty barbecue. Shelly turning on a spit.

Oh, but wait. I know what it’s like to have to break in a new boss. It sometimes is very trying on one’s soul, and besides these are a bunch of kids, right? Kids will be demonstrative, right? Umm, no. Not in this case.

From Roll Call

“Carl Thorsen, who is now a lobbyist, hired most of the DeLay aides who stormed out of the new Congresswoman’s office when he was DeLay’s general counsel and in charge of staffing the Hammer’s personal office. He said he couldn’t imagine what it must have taken to provoke the staff to quit all at once. ‘I know them. They’re exceptional and talented,’ he said. ‘They’ve been loyal to that district and they’ve worked really hard. They’re just not a group of loose cannons.’”

This from the guy who hired them. So it’s not a bunch of spoiled whiney kids at the bottom of this. Could it be the normal outcome of being a spoiled whiney congresswoman?

Spin control? The Shelster’s chief of staff and former campaign manager (and apparently the only one who can stand being around her), Lisa Diamond (elsewhere her name is spelled DiMond) says that Shelley is just a wonderful person and that the DeLay workers were just going to be there “for transitional purposes”.

Transitional? They’d been without a congressman to work for, for 5 months. They were there for constituent services only for 5 solid months. They’re going to briefly serve as a transition staff for a congresswoman who will be gone in 50 days?

So anyway, if you have any problems and need Shelley to come to your aid, call her at (202) 225-5951. That’ll get Shelley or Linda, or a message machine. Shelley’s going to have some problems getting a staff together to run the office for 50 days, unless they go with a temp service. But then I hear that word gets around inside the loop and the word is that “you’ll need to promise a Congressional Medal to anyone willing to take this one on.”

What a trainwreck

And you know, I'm not the best person for reading a person's thoughts from their facial expression, but I'll just say that the expression on Mr. Shelley's face at the top of this posting is priceless. Absolutely priceless.