OCTOBER 6, 2006 I $2.25 I OPENING THE EYES OF TEXAS FOR FIFTY ONE YEARS Molly Ivins remembers Ann Richards OCTOBER 6, 2006 Dialogue TheTexas Observer FAN MAIL FROM EL PASO available in this big state to help get a You have written an excellent, down- solid support for these folks. FEATURES to-earth article about a critical Larry Shulman, MSW community need and exciting El Paso community response ["In West Texas -A- MEN. A-WOMEN. A-ANN. 6 They Take Care of Their Own," Sept. 10 years difference, and Ann Richards Bravo to you for this story and the 22] This article should be sent to could've been president example it sets for us all!! every regional foundation interested by Molly Ivins M. Shedlin in health care and/or community Professor, HOUSTON, WE HAVE 10 development. UTEP College of Health Sciences HOPE FOR There must be more private money El Paso The Observer catches up on Houston area political races with Richard Murray by Jake Bernstein WORK FOR THE OBSERVER! DEPARTMENTS MANAGING EDITOR WANTED: Job Description: DIALOGUE 2 •Manage the production process of a bi-weekly periodical (24 issues/yr) from edit to press. EDITORIAL 3 •Assist editor in story assignment and editing, with emphasis on arts and Questionable Ethics culture section of the Observer. POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE 4 •Assist editor in recruiting both new and accomplished writers. ANDREW WHEAT 12 •Work with and edit staff and freelance writers. Green Mountain's Other Faces Requirements: MOLLY IVINS 14 Demonstrable strong editorial management experience with ability to Noshing on the News shape long-form stories and to enforce freelance (and staff) deadlines; strong copyediting and proofreading skills. Minority applicants are JIM HIGHTOWER 15 encouraged to apply. Send letter of interest including salary require- Poppies Up, Bush Down ments, resume, and clips to [email protected] (SUBJECT: Managing Editor). DATELINE 16 Not Even a Backseat BLOGGER WANTED: by Eileen Welsome Requirements: Seeking a part-time blogger (15-20 hours a week) to help write and man- BOOKS & CULTURE age a blog on our recently redesigned Web site. Blogger will be expected to write a minimum of seven posts per week. Blogger also will monitor and POETRY 21 respond to reader comments Monday through Friday. Other duties will by Terri Barbieri include putting up posts by Observer staffers and, occasionally, posting dispatches from Observer readers around the state. THE INCONTINENT CONGRESS 22 by Lou Dubose We're seeking a journalist who happens to blog. This isn't a position for someone who wants to write only their opinions. We want a blog that's DREAMS OF DOMINION 26 incisive and funny, but most of all, we want a reporting-based blog that by Dave Denison will uncover tidbits to inform and challenge readers. Familiarity with Texas politics is a must. The right candidate will be computer savvy and DESERT VISION 29 by James Hoggard have Web access, but doesn't have to be a techno-geek. Experience as a reporter or researcher strongly preferred. Blogger must match the tone and journalistic standards of the Observer. We'd prefer a blogger based in Cover photo by Alan Pogue Austin, but strong candidates in other parts of Texas will be considered. E-Mail your resume, three to five writing samples (links to clips are OK), and a description of why you should be the Observer's blogger to Dave Mann at [email protected] 2 THE TEXAS OBSERVER OCTOBER 6, 2006 EDITORIAL Questionable Ethics n the spring of 2002, the Observer public disclosure form filed with the wasn't what the anonymous petitioner ran an editorial about the Texas TEC that identified a gift from GOP wanted to hear. He or she withdrew the Ethics Commission (TEC) called mega-donor and Houston homebuild- request and slunk away. The commis- "A Dog Not Allowed to Hunt." er Bob Perry simply as a "check," but sion never issued a final—and precedent It talked about how the agen- failed to disclose the amount. Eventually, setting—opinion and let the matter cy was born hobbled, unwilling under media pressure, Perry acknowl- drop, leaving groups like TRMPAC free andI unable to enforce campaign laws. edged that he had given $100,000 to to argue that the ethics commission has Four years of Republican leadership Ceverha to help defray legal costs aris- never actually ruled on the matter. The later, if anything, the TEC has become a ing out of TRMPAC. Nonetheless, in agency, to this day, refuses to reveal who fortified obstacle to exposing and elimi- September the TEC staff recommended asked for that draft opinion. nating corruption in state government. that commissioners issue an opinion Meanwhile, a number of Republican Texas' Republican leaders seem intent that state officials don't have to declare state reps are angrily declaring that on whistling past a political graveyard the value of cash gifts over $250. they've done nothing illegal by using that has already claimed Tom DeLay, The GOP-appointed commissioners campaign contributions to rent sec- Bob Ney, and Ralph Reed. were all set to ratify that perspective ond homes from their spouses. The On September 19, staff at the TEC until Travis County District Attorney rent-from-your-wife dodge works like released a draft opinion meant to clar- Ronnie Earle jumped into the fray. Earle this: A state rep buys a condo in Austin ify a controversy that has been brew- sent a letter stating that the proposed and puts the title in his wife's name. ing since last January when campaign rule "would have the effect of eroding She pays the mortgage and he pays watchdog Texans for Public Justice the trust placed in this Commission to rent to her that happens to equal the (TPJ) lodged a complaint against promote public confidence in electoral mortgage. The money he uses comes Bill Ceverha, a board member of the and government processes!' The com- from his campaign account that is regu- Employee Retirement System, a $19-bil- mission then decided to postpone its larly replenished by lobbyists who want lion dollar state employee pension fund. decision until after the election. specific legislation from the state rep. Ceverha was also treasurer of Texans The TRMPAC case further illustrates While the TEC is investigating the mat- for a Republican Majority, the Tom the commission's weakness. In 1998— ter, don't hold your breath. DeLay-led political action committee four years before TRMPAC spent a dime "This is just symptomatic of every- that engineered the Republican capture of its corporate money—an anonymous thing that is wrong with the commis- of the statehouse in 2002, but landed in individual requested a ruling from the sion," says Fred Lewis, who has cam- the dock for campaign violations in the agency on whether a PAC that just hap- paigned to strengthen the TEC for years. process. Ceverha himself was successful- pened to fit TRMPAC's circumstances "It's really simple: They already have ly sued for his role in TRMPAC, a judg- could legally spend corporate money. plenty of authority to pass regulations ment that forced him into bankruptcy. The agency's answer, issued in a draft or interpret existing statutes." TPJ discovered an entry in Ceverha's opinion, was a flat "no." That apparently If only they would. ■ THE TEXAS OBSERVER I VOLUME 98, NO. 19 I A Journal of Free Voices Since 1954 Founding Editor Ronnie Dugger Steven G. Kellman, Lucius Lomax, The Texas Observer (ISSN 0040-4519/ paid. Airmail, foreign, group, and bulk Executive Editor Jake Bernstein James McWilliams, Char Miller, USPS 541300), entire contents copy- rates on request. Microfilm available Editor Barbara Belejack Debbie Nathan, Karen Olsson, righted ©2006, is published biweekly from University Microfilms Intl., 300 N. Associate Editor Dave Mann John Ross, Andrew Wheat except during January and August Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. 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