GREETINGS FELLOW DEMOCRATS!





Party, Party, Party, Party

Put your holiday hat on! Join Santa’s Democrat Donkeys

Tuesday, December 11
Margarita Rocks
6:00 PM - Dinner and conversation with friends
7:00 PM - Watch "Man of the Year" with Robin Williams
More details to follow





Is misdeed a creation of political doctrine?

By The Editorial Board
The Austin American-Statesman
December 2, 2007

Is this state’s education agency being driven by a political orthodoxy so fierce that it dumped its science director for passing along a harmless e-mail? It’s possible.

Chris Comer was director of the science curriculum for the Texas Education Agency for nearly a decade when she was forced to resign recently. Her offense, as unbelievable as it is to relate, was forwarding an e-mail message about a presentation by an author critical of the intelligent design approach to science education.

The education agency, of course, portrays the problem as one of insubordination and misconduct. But from all appearances, Comer was pushed out because the agency is enforcing a political doctrine of strict conservatism that allows no criticism of creationism.

This state has struggled for years with the ideological bent of the state school board, but lawmakers took away most of its power to infect education some years ago. Politicizing the Texas Education Agency, which oversees the education of children in public schools, would be a monumental mistake.

This isn’t the space to explore the debate over creationism, intelligent design and evolution. Each approach should be fair game for critical analysis, so terminating someone for just mentioning a critic of intelligent design smacks of the dogma and purges in the Soviet era.

But then, this is a new and more political time at the state’s education agency.

Robert Scott, the new education commissioner, is not an educator but a lawyer and former adviser to Gov. Rick Perry. This presents an excellent opportunity for the governor and his appointee to step in firmly to put an end to ideological witch hunts in the agency.

The person who called for Comer to be fired is Lizzette Reynolds, a former deputy legislative director for Gov. George Bush. She joined the state education agency this year as an adviser after a stint in the U.S. Department of Education.

In her memo criticizing Comer, Reynolds said that Comer’s passing along the e-mail “assumes this is a subject that the agency supports.” That’s absurd, of course, but it is in keeping with enforcing a doctrine that says creationism must not be criticized.

Creationism is a religious belief that rejects Darwin’s theory of evolution and holds that life on Earth was created by a deity. Intelligent design is the theory that the universe is the result of an intelligent cause - a designer - not natural selection.

Intelligent design has been debated for two decades, and some view it as a way to explain both the biblical account of creation and aspects of evolution. Critics, such as the author whose presentation Comer passed along, believe it is mere cover for creationism.

Whether one accepts the theory of intelligent design or not, discussion encourages scientific exploration, which is what a science curriculum director should do. Forcing Comer out of her job because she passed on an e-mail about the critic’s presentation is egregiously wrong.

It looks like the Texas Education Agency has fallen victim to a smelly little orthodoxy, to quote author George Orwell. And that cannot be good for the schools or the schoolchildren of Texas.

If this agency is indeed in the grip of an unforgiving political ideology, it bears close scrutiny by all Texans.





Texas Republicans Launch New Vote Suppression Scheme

Craddick committee directive and GOP vote suppression think tank will attempt to justify denying Texans access to the ballot

Academic studies, media reports and fact based voter analysis consistently demonstrate that systematic, widespread or frequent voter fraud in Texas, or anywhere else in the United States, simply does not exist. Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick, however, has directed a State House committee to conduct an interim study on voter fraud with the clear intention of recommending legislation to limit the ability of thousands of eligible Texans to vote. (See the order here)

At the same time, former Tom DeLay aide and current Tom Craddick ally, John Colyandro, who remains under felony indictment for money laundering and other charges, has formed a "think tank" that is already using faulty data and illogical statistics to justify vote suppression tactics.

These most recent Texas Republican efforts to suppress voter turnout are consistent with Texas AG Greg Abbott's taxpayer funded phony voter fraud enforcement unit that the Lone Star Project has exposed and reported on extensively here.

Why do Tom Craddick and other Texas Republican leaders want to spend taxpayer resources to examine a problem that doesn't exist? Clearly Craddick, Abbott and others are attempting to justify dramatic changes in Texas law and election practices, including voter photo ID requirements, senior mail ballot restrictions and voter roll purges, that will reduce overall voter turnout as demographic changes take place in Texas that are increasing the influence of minorities in Texas elections.

The facts below demonstrate clearly that the Republican voter fraud initiative is a partisan scheme to hold power by suppressing the turnout of voters whose support Republicans are unable or unwilling to earn through legitimate public service.

Voter ID/Vote Suppression Bill Fact Sheet Republican Claim: Voter Fraud is an "Epidemic" in Texas FACT CHECK: Even fiercely partisan Republican Attorney General Abbott has admitted that after spending millions of Texas and federal taxpayer dollars investigating, "there have been few [voter fraud] prosecutions in Texas." The Austin American Statesman editorialized, “Voter fraud is not an issue because Texas is not being flooded with unregistered voters and illegal immigrants flocking to the polls. That just isn't happening.” (Source: Austin American-Statesman, April 26, 2007) Republican Claim: Non-citizens voting is a major problem throughout the U.S. FACT CHECK: The Department of Justice’s Ballot Access and Voting Integrity Initiative has resulted in just 14 convictions of non-citizens voting in the entire United States between 2002 and 2005. That is less then 5 noncitizens voting a year. (Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Public Integrity Section, Election Fraud Prosecutions & Convictions, Ballot Access & Voting Integrity Initiative, October 2002 – September 2005; The Politics of Voter Fraud, Minnite, Ph.D. Columbia University) Republican Claim: Everyone has an ID FACT CHECK: Even the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute admitted that 37% of Texas residents over the age of 80 did not have a driver's license. (TCCRI Commentary, May 1, 2007) Republican Claim: Democratic operatives are pushing the opposition to the Voter Suppression Bill FACT CHECK: The objections to the voter ID legislation are broad and bipartisan. The bill is opposed by non-partisan groups like the AARP and League of Women Voters, as well as every major Texas newspaper and many local newspapers. (Source: Associated Press, April 23, 2007) Former Republican Party Political Director Royal Massett has been one of the most outspoken opponents of the bill saying "Anyone who says all legal voters under this bill can vote doesn't know what he is talking about." (Source: The Houston Chronicle, April 26, 2007) Additionally, each of the major daily papers and many smaller papers have penned an editorial against the voter suppression legislation including the: Houston Chronicle – “With no proof of significant voter fraud in state elections, the Texas House is considering bills that would require voters to provide additional identification in order to register and cast their ballots. Not only is the legislation unjustified, if enacted it could disenfranchise large numbers of the elderly, the poor and minorities.” April 26, 2007 Dallas Morning News - “Voting is a privilege sacred to the Republic. The process needs to be secure. Violators should be prosecuted. But absent any evidence of serious security breaches at the polls, access to the voting booth needs to remain as unimpeded as it is today. The state Senate would be wise to stop this bad idea.” April 25, 2007 Austin American-Statesman – “Voter fraud is not an issue because Texas is not being flooded with unregistered voters and illegal immigrants flocking to the polls. That just isn't happening.” April 26, 2007 Fort Worth Star-Telegram – “The architects of this idea, pitched as a noble effort to prevent voter fraud, cannot be allowed to succeed with what is surely one of the greatest assaults on the right to vote in this state since passage of the federal Voting Rights Act in 1965.” April 23, 2007 Waco Tribune – “When asked for evidence that the problem is rampant in this great and vast state, partisans who cry “voter fraud” are strangely silent.” April 25, 2007 Corpus Christi Caller-Times – “Putting more procedural hurdles in the way of voters is precisely what the doctor did not order. In fact, it conjures up memories of the old poll-tax days, when the system actively discouraged voting by all but the "right" groups.” April 25, 2007 Republican Claim: Simple computer matching will remove improperly registered voters. FACT CHECK: The Houston Chronicle Reported that the, ““hundreds of people who went to the polls found their names had been removed because of glitches in a $14 million Web-based state computer program intended to centralize voter registration lists.” The Chronicle also reports, “the system already has kicked registered voters' names off the lists [including] Prairie View Mayor Frank Jackson.” (Source: The Houston Chronicle, May 3, 2007; May 6, 2007) Republican Claim: According to “Lite” Governor David Dewhurst: “On June 22, 2006, Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector and Voter Registrar Paul Bettencourt testified before the U.S. House Administration Committee that foreign nationals are both applying for and receiving voter registration cards. Data given to my office indicates that in Harris County alone since 1992, 3,742 voters have been removed from the voter rolls because they were not U.S. citizens.” FACT CHECK: Republican Paul Bettencourt gave Congressional testimony disputing the above statistic. On June 22, 2006, Bettencourt appeared before the Committee on House Administration saying, “A review by my office in early 2005 turned up at least 35 cases in which foreign nationals either applied for or received voter's cards.” It is unclear why David Dewhurst’s number is exponentially higher than Paul Bettencourt’s figure. (Source: CQ Congressional Testimony, June 22, 2006)