Political News - Texas - onPolitix

Senate leaders push for campus-carry vote

2013-05-15T22:35:55Z

AUSTIN (KXAN) — If you have a license to carry a handgun, you might soon be able walk into a building on a college campus in Texas and not be breaking the law. Senate leaders are working to secure votes ahead of a crucial deadline next Tuesday.

The "conceal carry" bill has failed in recent legislative sessions. But in the final days of this one, it's getting closer to passing than ever before.

The idea was an unsettling one for Monica Jiminez, as she walked up to the library at the University of Texas in Austin. Three years ago, she worked in the building and was on the way to start her shift when a gunman opened fire.

"It felt strange to come to work in a place where I knew someone had lost their life,” Jiminez said of the shooter who killed only himself that day.

She and her boyfriend, Roger Reeves, both teach college classes now in Chicago and think about the risk they take being on a campus. But they say having guns legally in college buildings might make matters worse.

"I stick by my guns,” she said. “I really think it's a bad idea."

Sen. Brian Birdwell - campus-carry bill’s Senate sponsor - said leaders are working behind the scenes to secure enough votes to bring the measure to the floor for a vote. It must gain preliminary approval by Tuesday night to move on to the governor’s desk.

"Right now, the matter is in the hands of Lt. Gov. Dewhurst to see how we can work out an opportunity to have some Democrats come alongside us,” said Birdwell, a Granbury Republican.

Birdwell expected the bill might come up as early as Friday, as it is still likely shy of the necessary votes. He – like other lawmakers including Senate Criminal Justice Chairman John Whitmire, D-Houston – said a special session might involve a version of the bill this summer, if the bill did not make it to the governor’s desk in these final two weeks of the regular session.

The version of the bill now before the Senate is a weaker version of campus-carry measures that have failed in previous sessions. Under this plan, public universities could opt out of the law, but they would be required to renew their gun policies each year after input from faculty, staff and students. Private universities could opt in to the law.

Under the measure, CHL holders would still be prohibited from bringing their weapon to a sporting event, hospitals or elementary schools located on college campuses.

More than half-a-million Texans have Concealed Handgun Licenses. Those are people over 21 who completed a training course. Right now, college campuses are one place where those people cannot legally carry guns.

DA Lehmberg seeking 'professional help'

2013-05-14T00:48:52Z

AUSTIN (KXAN) — It's been five days since Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg walked out of the Travis County Jail after serving half of her 45-day sentence for driving while intoxicated in April.

On Monday evening, Rosemary Lehmberg released a statement talking about her "mistake" and how she is currently seeking "professional help."

"I am currently seeking professional help on the advice of one of the foremost experts in this region concerning the issues that lead to my behavior the night I was arrested for driving while intoxicated.. He has concluded that I am "fully able to perform [my] duties" as District Attorney of Travis County, I am "not at risk of injuring the public interest in the performance of [my] duties," and I have a "normal mental status exam." This expert recommended that I attend treatment for a brief period to deal with the behavior that lead to my arrest. I immediately accepted his recommendation.

"While I am seeking professional guidance, I will be in contact with my office on a regular basis-just as would any officeholder or department head who received medical treatment or took similar personal leave. John Neal, the First Assistant in the District Attorney's office, will be in regular contact with me. John is extremely competent and I have every confidence in him. He served as First Assistant in the Travis County District Attorney's office for over four years, and during his 33-year legal career also served as an elected District Attorney (for Stephens and Young Counties), as Chief Disciplinary Counsel of the State Bar of Texas, and as Division Chief of the Statewide Prosecution Division of the Office of Attorney General. Additionally, our office has a strong management structure, with very experienced, competent division chiefs. The citizens of Travis County can rest assured the office will function effectively while I am receiving this medical assistance.

"Again, I apologize from the bottom of my heart for my personal mistake, and I commit to do everything in my power to deal with the underlying issues and to do the very best I can to serve the citizens of Travis County. I appreciate the many expressions of support, forgiveness, compassion, and patience from so many people.

Earlier in the day, several people held a banner that read: "Honk if Rosemary should resign. SoLongRose.com" on the overpass of IH-35 at 12th Street.

Big bills at risk in session's final days

2013-05-13T21:40:47Z

AUSTIN (KXAN) — It is crunch time at the State Capitol. Texas lawmakers have just two weeks left until the end of the session on Memorial Day.

Hundreds of bills will fly through both the House and Senate in a mad dash to get important pieces of legislation to Gov. Rick Perry’s desk.

"The biggest issue's still the budget,” said Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin. “I’m working with members of the conference committee to make sure we get this done.”

Watson explained the budget – the only piece of legislation lawmakers are constitutionally required to pass – has an effect on several other crucial items – especially education, water infrastructure, transportation funding and the state’s employee retirement system.

“This morning, I think when everybody rolled out of bed, they realized that they were in a different gear,” he added. "We're at that point in the session where you're starting to be able to count the lost opportunities, but hopefully we'll be able to get the key work done here in the last two weeks.

Freshman Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, said her first session has taught her the legislative process is not a speedy one.

"I have an emergency room personality,” Campbell said. “That's why me being a physician in the emergency room fits so well. I'm used to things moving fast and seeing productivity in the emergency room quickly. Then I come here to a government job and you stop."

This year lawmakers filed more than 6,000 pieces of legislation. So far fewer than 200 have passed.

"I like that there's good legislation,” said Campbell, who worked to pass high-profile abortion- and gun-related bills. “Yet I don't like it in that it takes so long to get through the process."

Like last session, lawmakers might have to remain in Austin for part of the summer. The governor has threatened to call a special session if they do not figure out a plan for the budget, water issues and tax relief.

"I still hold out the belief and hope that we can achieve the goals that we need to achieve,” said Watson.

Gun bill taps historic Texas slogan

2013-05-08T22:23:21Z

GONZALES, Texas (KXAN) — The nation's gun control future is spilling into Texas history. A new state House bill – HB 928 – is taking the term "Come and Take It" as a namesake - and refusing to fund federal firearms restrictions.

If you're looking for a piece of history in the town of Gonzales, check with Loretta Shirley. Her place – the old, brick Laurel Ridge – was once a home, then a funeral parlor and now an antiques shop.

"All of these pieces have a story somewhere,” Shirley said, repositioning a jeweled broach on a shelf near the door.

But the best told story is fluttering about the town of about 7,300 south of Interstate 10 between San Antonio and Houston – a white flag with the black shape of cannon and the words “Come and Take It” stitched across.

Just like Shirley’s store has changed faces over the years, so has the symbol for the start of the Texas Revolution.

"The real 'Come and Take It' flag is just the old cannon,” she explained. “Yeah, they reproduced it with M-16s and all kinds of guns. That's not a true representation of what 'Come and Take It' means."

In 1835, Texans sent a message to Mexican forces about the actual cannon, now on display at the Gonzales Memorial Museum.

"The Mexican army came to take the cannon back, and the Texans said, 'If you want the cannon back, 'Come and Take It,' thus setting off the Texas Revolution,” said Marlaina, the museum’s director.

A recently passed Texas House bill now bears that slogan. It says the state will not spend any money to enforce proposed federal firearms regulations. These ideas for gun control were propelled by mass shootings across the nation, and they are something opponents fear could hurt ammunition and firearm sales.

"It's one of those issues that no one's going to completely agree on, but I'm certainly for it,” said Haberman. “I think it is our right to protect ourselves."

Shirley said her customers always want a piece of the past. However, selling this slogan can be tough when politics get in the way.

"It's more about protecting our rights and our freedoms and standing up for ourselves than the actual weapons to me anyway,” she said.

Critics of the 'Come and Take It' bill say it could force a showdown with federal officials, but the author said it does not apply to existing federal regulations, only new regulations coming out of Washington.

Now it is on to the Texas Senate, where it could face a steeper battle.

Eckhardt launches bid for county judge

2013-05-01T21:15:23Z

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Travis County Commissioner Sarah Eckhardt officially launched her 2014 race for county judge Wednesday, which means she'll have to resign her current post.

Eckhardt, a Democrat who has represented the northern tier of the county in Precinct 2 for six years, made the announcement in her mother's backyard in Central Austin.

Eckhardt has a long history in civic and political affairs, and an even longer political pedigree. She's the daughter of the late former Congressman Bob Eckhardt, who served in Washington during the middle 1960s through 1980. Her mother, Nadine Eckhard, was an aide to Lyndon Johnson when he served in the Senate.

Long-serving County Judge Sam Biscoe has said he plans to retire when his present term ends.

“Serving as Travis County’s executive for all of our diverse communities requires seasoned leadership, an expert knowledge of issues and the ability to negotiate with powerful interests – this is not a job for beginners,” added Eckhardt.

Sarah Eckhardt lives in Central Austin with her husband Kurt Sauer, also an attorney, and her two children Hank and Nadine.

Eckhardt must vacate her current post as soon as a replacement is named and seated.

Former state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos had flirted with a run for the Democratic nomination for county judge earlier this year but decided against it. No Republican has announced for the post yet.

Senate passes bill to end FAA furloughs

2013-04-26T01:03:04Z

WASHINGTON (AP) — With flight delays mounting, the Senate approved hurry-up legislation Thursday night to end air traffic controller furloughs blamed for inconveniencing large numbers of travelers.

A House vote on the measure was expected as early as Friday, with lawmakers eager to embark on a weeklong vacation.

Under the legislation, the Federal Aviation Administration would gain authority to transfer up to $253 million from accounts that are flush into other programs, to "prevent reduced operations and staffing" through the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year.

In addition to restoring full staffing by controllers, Senate officials said the available funds should be ample enough to prevent the closure of small airport towers around the country. The FAA has said it will shut the facilities as it makes its share of $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts that took effect last month at numerous government agencies.

The Senate acted as the FAA said there had been at least 863 flights delayed on Wednesday "attributable to staffing reductions resulting from the furlough."

There was no immediate reaction at the White House, although administration officials participated in the negotiations that led to the deal and evidently registered no objections.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a key participant in the talks, said the legislation would "prevent what otherwise would have been intolerable delays in the air travel system, inconveniencing travelers and hurting the economy."

Senate approval followed several hours of pressure-filled, closed-door negotiations, and came after most senators had departed the Capitol on the assumption that the talks had fallen short.

Officials said a small group of senators insisted on a last-ditch effort at an agreement before Congress adjourned for a vacation that could have become politically problematic if the flight delays continued.

"I want to do it right now. There are other senators you'd have to ask what the hang-up is," Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., said at a point when it appeared no compromise would emerge.

For the White House and Senate Democrats, the discussions on legislation relating to one relatively small slice of the $85 billion in spending cuts marked a shift in position in a long-running struggle with Republicans over budget issues. Similarly, the turn of events marked at least modest vindication of a decision by the House GOP last winter to finesse some budget struggles in order to focus public attention on the across-the-board cuts in hopes they would gain leverage over President Barack Obama.

The Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, a union that represents FAA employees, reported a number of incidents it said were due to the furloughs.

In one case, it said several flights headed for Long Island MacArthur Airport in New York were diverted on Wednesday when a piece of equipment failed. "While the policy for this equipment is immediate restoral, due to sequestration and furloughs it was changed to next-day restoral," the union said.

It added it was "learning of additional impacts nationwide, including open watches, increased restoration times, delays resulting from insufficient funding for parts and equipment, modernization delays, missed or deferred preventative maintenance, and reduced redundancy."

The airlines, too, were pressing Congress to restore the FAA to full staffing.

In an interview Wednesday, Robert Isom, chief operations officer of US Airways, likened the furloughs to a "wildcat regulatory action."

He added, "In the airline business, you try to eliminate uncertainty. Some factors you can't control, like weather. It (the FAA issue) is worse than the weather."

In a shift, first the White House and then senior Democratic lawmakers have signaled a willingness in the past two days to support legislation that alleviates the budget crunch at the FAA, while leaving the balance of the $85 billion to remain in effect.

Obama favors a comprehensive agreement that replaces the entire $85 billion in across-the-board cuts as part of a broader deficit-reduction deal that includes higher taxes and spending cuts.

One Senate Democrat, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, noted that without the type of comprehensive deficit deal that Obama favors, a bill that eases the spending crunch at the FAA would inevitably be followed by other single-issue measures. She listed funding at the National Institutes of Health as one example, and cuts that cause furloughs of civilians who work at military hospitals as a second.

At the same time, Democratic aides said resolve had crumbled under the weight of widespread delays for the traveling public and pressure from the airlines.

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., involved in the discussions, said the issue was big enough so "most people want to find a solution as long as it doesn't spend any more money."

Officials estimate it would cost slightly more than $200 million to restore air traffic controllers to full staffing, and another $50 million to keep open smaller air traffic towers around the country that the FAA has proposed closing.

Across the Capitol, the chairman of the House Transportation Committee, Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., said, "We're willing to look at what the Senate's going to propose."

He said he believes the FAA has the authority it needs under existing law to shift funds and end the furloughs of air traffic controllers, and any legislation should be "very, very limited" and direct the agency to use the flexibility it already has.

In a reflection of the political undercurrents, another House Republican, Rep. James Lankford of Oklahoma, said FAA employees "are being used as pawns by this (Obama) administration to be able to implement the maximum amount of pain on the American people when it does not have to be this way."

The White House and congressional Democrats vociferously dispute such claims.

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Associated Press writers Joan Lowy, Henry C. Jackson and Alan Fram in Washington and David Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report.

Column: Bush started as uniter, ended up divider

2013-04-22T16:10:25Z

WASHINGTON (AP) — On June 12, 1999, George W. Bush began his White House quest with this comment at to a barbecue-going crowd in Iowa: "This country is hungry for a new style of campaign ... a campaign that unites all Americans toward a better tomorrow."

"I'm a uniter, not a divider," the Texas Republican said throughout that campaign, pitching himself as a "compassionate conservative" with a broad domestic policy agenda.

A decade later, Bush left office with a reputation, deserved or not, as one of the most polarizing presidents of our time. Now, four years after he left the White House, it's worth taking another look at Bush as his presidential library opens in Texas this week.

Opinion/Analysis

Bush and his administration made some big mistakes, including a false conclusion that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, an overplayed hand on reforming Social Security and a bungled handling of the federal government's responsibility in Hurricane Katrina.

His federal spending also betrayed the Republican Party's small-government principles and was a contributing factor to the tea party's emergence and current rifts over the party's direction. He took some enormous risks that drew intense criticism, like bailing out Wall Street. And his confident, at times cocky posture rubbed some the wrong way.

But it wasn't entirely Bush's fault that he ended up dividing more than uniting. Presidents, after all, don't operate in a vacuum. He shares the blame with Democratic and Republican parties shaped by their respective extreme ideological wings, a Congress filled with lawmakers who have their own agendas and a modern American political system in which the unifying rhetoric of campaigning usually gives way to the divisiveness of governing.

Polling bears out Bush's slide. When he took office in January 2001, half of the country viewed him in a positive light while 30 percent had negative views in an NBC survey. By the time he left Washington eight years later, the network's poll showed that 31 percent had favorable opinions of him and 58 percent had unfavorable. He's improved some since then, according to an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll ahead of the library opening: Some 35 percent of Americans now view him favorably, while 44 percent view him negatively.

"He started very much as a Republican who wanted to reach out to moderates and build a broad coalition," says Julian E. Zelizer, a historian at Princeton University and the author of "The Presidency of George W. Bush: A First Historical Assessment." ''He campaigned that way, and he started his presidency that way. But that didn't work over the long run, and he became more controversial."

A host of factors contributed to that transformation, one both his predecessor and successor also underwent to varying degrees. Bill Clinton in 1992 ran as a moderate Democrat who wanted to bring the country together, and Barack Obama in 2008 cast himself as almost a nonpartisan candidate. Each was looking to cobble together an ideologically diverse coalition. But each ended up deeply polarizing in his first year, beloved by Democrats and deplored by Republicans.

"It's something common that we see in this day and age. Part of it is where we are today in our politics. Part of it is just the traditional challenge of the presidency," Zelizer says. "All presidents who enter office talking about unity are bound to be disappointed."

In Bush's case, it was a 50/50 electorate that handed him a narrow victory in the disputed 2000 election that the Supreme Court resolved. He took office in a red-hot era of partisanship, with activists on the right and left embracing new technology to amplify their ideological views and assail the opposition.

Democrats, stung by losing the White House and beholden to the party's most liberal wing, demonized him at every turn. Many on the left viewed him as an illegitimate president from the start of his presidency.

Bush also took the reins of a Republican Party that he sought to make more inclusive by attracting Hispanics and others — an effort made more difficult because of domination by the far right. The House was far more conservative than him on a host of issues, putting pressure on him throughout his tenure to shift away from the center to get his priorities passed. And when he refused — on immigration reform, for example — his own party ended up undermining him.

His response to the 9/11 attacks, and his shift from a domestically focused president to a wartime commander-in-chief, sharply accelerated his transformation into a polarizing figure. In the attacks' immediate aftermath, Americans were united behind hunting down al-Qaida, and voters from both parties rallied heavily in support of Bush. On Capitol Hill, Democrats and Republicans alike voted to use force in Afghanistan and Iraq. Bush's popularity soared.

He had almost universal backing among Republicans then, and while it dipped a bit here and there, he closed out his second term with 75 percent approval among Republicans, according to Gallup. The opposite happened with Democrats. A stunning 84 percent of them backed him after the attacks but it wasn't long before his standing started sliding precipitously to a measly 6 percent by the end of his presidency.

By 2006, the Iraq war was unpopular. In the aftermath of Katrina, so was Bush.

From secret prisons to wiretapping to hard interrogation tactics, Americans ended up deeply divided about Bush's national security policies. Many Democrats opposed them, and many Republicans supported them. People of all stripes grew restless with how much was being spent on the wars, as the federal debt soared and budget deficits grew. Eventually, support sank for the Iraq war and wavered for Afghanistan, with independents, Democrats and even some Republicans fleeing Bush during his final White House years.

Four years after the unpopular president left the helm of a country embroiled in unpopular wars, it's easy to forget that Bush actually had several bipartisan triumphs — the No Child Left Behind education overhaul, the Bush tax cuts and the creation of a program to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa among them. He did make a good-faith, though ultimately unsuccessful, effort to work with Democrats to reform the immigration system. And he sought and obtained the support of both Republicans and Democrats to go to war.

So is the image of a divisive Bush rooted in reality, or is it simply a caricature, a myth built more on personality than policy and peddled by detractors? Was it inevitable, given high levels of polarization and partisanship in our country and a system dominated by the most liberal and conservative among us? And will Bush's fate be the same for any other president if this nation's politics stay this way?

Probably so. Yet Bush himself certainly didn't help matters.

Here's what he said in spring 2006 as the Abu Ghraib prison scandal flared and calls for embattled Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to be fired intensified: "I listen to all voices, but mine is the final decision. ... I'm the decider, and I decide what is best."

Reasonable, perhaps — maybe even the purview of any president. Not too far, in fact, from Harry S. Truman's "The Buck Stops Here." But the way Bush put it conflicted sharply with the broad, inclusive pitch of his first campaign years earlier — and helped build the image of a polarizing, partisan president that still lingers today.

EDITOR'S NOTE — Liz Sidoti is the national politics editor for The Associated Press.

Mail security on alert at State Capitol

2013-04-17T23:41:42Z

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A security scare ripples across the country after the US Secret Service intercepted a letter addressed to President Barack Obama containing a suspicious substance – the poison ricin.

The letter never reached the White House, but almost immediately senators from around the US started reporting suspicious letters - including the Dallas office of Texas Senator John Cornyn.

In Austin, state lawmakers and their staff took precaution. Fritz Reinig – chief of staff for Rep. Doug Miller, R-New Braunfels – picked up the mail from the House Post Office with extra care on Wednesday.

“When something like this happens in the wake of any sort of an incident, I'll actually come down to get the mail,” said Reinig.

He questioned postal staff about the procedure to check letters and packages before they arrive in the Capitol building. House members alone receive 2-3,000 pieces of mail each day.

“It's been screened plenty before it gets to us,” postal clerk Paul Hays assured him. "Every piece of mail has a picture taken of it, so if they ever have to track it back down, they can."

The Department of Public Safety is in charge of mail security during threats, though officials would not discuss specific plans. Other officials said the method involved chemical testing.

Reinig described a machine that inspects each suspicious letter be squeezing the contents inside.

"Whatever powder or dust is emitted, that air is tested, then they're able to quarantine that mail,” he said.

Miller – his boss – is a former police officer and appreciates extra security for elected officials during such an event.

"They want to attack somebody who's in a position where it gives them a higher profile,” said Miller. “Unfortunately, that's the way it is, and that's the world today."

Secret Service expands security at White House

2013-04-15T21:33:39Z

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Secret Service expanded its security perimeter at the White House on Monday following the explosions at the Boston Marathon.

Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said the measure was taken "out of an abundance of caution" and noted that it was not unusual to expand or contract the security perimeters.

President Barack Obama was briefed on the explosions by FBI Director Robert Mueller and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. The White House said the president also spoke with Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Tom Menino and pledged to provide whatever federal support was needed in responding to the incident.

Vice President Joe Biden was on a conference call with gun control activists when staffers turned on televisions in his office Monday to view coverage of the explosions. He said during the call that his prayers were with those in Boston.

The Secret Service, as part of its expanded security near the White House, shut down Pennsylvania Avenue, cordoning off the area with yellow police tape. Several Secret Service patrol cars also blocked off the entry points to the road.

The White House was not on lockdown and tourists and other onlookers were still able to be in the park across the street from the executive mansion.

Obama to make statement on Boston explosions

2013-04-15T21:11:58Z

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will issue a statement on the explosions at the Boston Marathon in televised remarks to the nation from the White House.

Obama was briefed on Monday's explosions by FBI Director Robert Mueller and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. The White House said the president also spoke with Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Tom Menino and pledged to provide whatever federal support was needed in responding to the incident.

Obama has been monitoring the situation in Boston since news of the explosions first broke.