U.S. State Politics

Rick Perry: Mum's The Word

Rick Perry has adopted a more behind-the-scenes approach this time around. That doesn't mean he hasn't been busy.

Rick Perry May Be Speaking Softly but Wielding a Veto Pen This Session

The excitement was palpable as Governor Rick Perry strode into the House chamber just over two years ago to make his State of the State speech. Months before the four-term Republican governor declared his run for president, Capitol observers were parsing his every phrase and praising his uncanny po ... More >>

Zack Kopplin, The 19-Year-Old Face of the Anti-Creationist Movement

Having fought his battles in Louisiana, the Rice University student is now ready for Texas and any move to put faux science in the public schools here.

Judge Tosses Out Texas' Method Of Funding Schools, Saying It's Unfair

A state district judge ruled today the method Texas uses to fund its schools is unconstitutional and unfair and must be overhauled. Ruling in a suit brought by the Houston school district and other districts, Judge John Dietz said the state has not met the basic requirements of fairness in funding ... More >>

George Prescott Bush, Yes, ANOTHER One, Considering Run for State Office

Honestly, I thought George Foreman had a lot of Georges in his family, but now I'm beginning to wonder if the Bush clan doesn't have him beat. First there was George H.W. Bush, then George W. Bush. Now, there's George P. Bush (maybe even P.G. if you count his second middle name), son to Jeb and gran ... More >>

The Bible Bandwagon's Getting Crowded: Rick Perry, Greg Abbott Grab A Piece Of The Kountze Limelight

Don't worry, Jesus: You will not be fighting Your epic battle against Satan on the battlefields of Kountze High School alone. By Your side will be Governor Rick Perry and state Attorney General Greg Abbott, both of whom have somehow decided to intervene in a red-meat, hot-button issue sure to pleas ... More >>

Post Presidential Debates, Rick Perry, Whatchya Plannin? (Please Not A 2016 Presidential Run)

It's been a bizarre few weeks for the Gov. The madness began in late August when Perry said he would "absolutely" consider another run at the presidency, adding that 2016 is a long ways off and "a lot of good things can happen." Oh, Rick. What "good things" are those? Did you mean the impending Ch ... More >>

Feds Toss Out Texas's Redistricting Maps: Biased Against Minorities, Panel Says

The Texas GOP's lengthy effort to create redistricting maps that federal judges say don't discriminate against minorities hit another snag today when a three-judge panel in D.C. threw out the latest plan. The judges said the proposed maps failed to meet fairness standards using various tests and an ... More >>

Rick Perry: Whatchya Gonna Do With All That $$$?

Since Gov. Rick Perry abandoned the fetid remains of his failed presidential bid last January, he has socked away $1.94 million in political contributions, bringing the total amount of ching deposited with Texans for Rick Perry, his political action committee, to $3.4 million, according to recent ca ... More >>

Ted Cruz: First Intellectual Tea-Partier Ever

Last night, as we watched Sarah Palin bloviate on Fox News -- yes, doubtful reader, we do under highly unusual circumstances tune in to Fox News -- we were struck by something. Ted Cruz, compared to virtually every single Tea Party member on this green earth like Palin, is really damn articulate. Li ... More >>

Dems Dream Of A Blue Texas As They Convene In Houston

For people who've been losing Texas elections pretty consistently since the `80s, Democrats at the Democratic State Convention officially kicking off today in downtown Houston are surprisingly upbeat. That's because many of them are expecting the tide to turn in Texas politics, maybe not today or to ... More >>

College Dreams and The Name Game

GOP State Senator John Carona to Colleague Dan Patrick: I Heard You're Gay, But I Never Said It

When Republican state senators attack!!!! (Things get extremely passive-aggressive.) Texas state senators Dan Patrick, Tomball's Own, and Dallas's John Carona got in a nasty e-mail fight first discovered by the Quorum Report. QR is behind a paywall, but some subscribers have posted highlights of t ... More >>

Feds Block Texas's Voter ID Law: Unfair to Hispanics, They Say

Texas's strict new voter ID law, put in place by this past session's Tea Party legislature to stem the tidal wave of voter fraud that is actually not happening at all, has been blocked by the U.S. Department of Justice. The new law unfairly targets Hispanic voters, the feds said. "[T]he state has ... More >>

Is Texas Going to Have a Primary? Redistricting Maps Go Back to Drawing Board

The Texas primary is allegedly a little more than two months away, but some people still don't know what congressional or state-legislature district they're in, and the people running for those seats don't know who to court. The U.S. Supreme Court today rejected a redistricting map drawn up by a pa ... More >>

Down the Hatch

The Texas Attorney General's Office says a drugmaker lied in order to push an antipsychotic on foster children. So why are kids as young as three still taking the drug?

Miracle Faker

Rick Perry is right: America can learn from Texas. He's just wrong about what the lesson is.

Texas Cities and Nonprofit Entities to Get About $3.5 Million in National Settlement of JPMorgan Suit

Settlement helps, a little.​Financial giant JPMorgan has agreed to pay $228 million to settle charges that it manipulated deals involving the government bond market, and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott says the state's portion of it will be about $3.5 million. The money will go to Texas mu ... More >>

Sarah Palin Sneak Preview: The Agony of The Undefeated

That word you keep using...​There was an advance screening last night of The Undefeated, the new film by Stephen K. Bannon that traces the rise of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin from her early years as mayor of Wasilla to John McCain's 2008 Vice-Presidential candidate to her new status as ... More >>

Rebecca Forest: Tea Party Leader Tells Austin Rally There's Too Many Hispanics in Legislature

This weekend saw another thrilling right-wing rally in Austin, and in this one Rebecca Forest, a co-founder of an immigration group called Women on the Wall, offered a unique take on why Texas can't get hard-core legislation passed like Arizona and Alabama. If you want to know why we can't pass leg ... More >>

Calling All Sluts

Time to fight back

Payday Lending: Texas Takes Teeny, Tiny Step to (Barely) Regulate

Gary Elkins: State Rep, payday lender.​Payday lending, where lower-income, lesser-educated, financially strapped people get some instant cash but sometimes end up paying 500 percent interest, is an industry ripe for some regulating, you would think. But that's why you're not a member of the T ... More >>

Sonogram Bill Signed: Three White Guys Sitting Around Talking

Sid Miller knows best.​Texas, you may now consider yourself even more safe when it comes to women abortin' babies just `cause they feel like it. Governor Rick Perry, in a big ceremonial show, signed into law the bill that mandates women seeking abortions must undergo sonograms. His official ... More >>

75 MPH Speed Limit Passes: Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines

The Texas Senate has sent to the governor's desk a bill allowing 75 mph speed limits in semi-deserted parts of Texas. Assuming that the Tea Party is not against, Rick Perry is expected to sign it. So get ready to put the pedal to the metal, Texas, and try to imagine what it must have been like in t ... More >>

Kristi Thibaut: Former State Rep Announces for At-Large Council Seat

Kristi Thibaut: Running for council.​Kristi Thibaut, the Democrat who rode the 2008 Obama surge into a single term in the state legislature representing Memorial and the west side of town, has announced she is running for the at-large City Council seat being vacated by term-limited Sue Lovell. ... More >>

Mandatory Abortion Sonograms Bill Passes: Ladies, Get Ready For Your Close-Ups

Dan Patrick has reason to smile; women, not so much.​Any woman seeking an abortion in Texas will be forced to undergo a sonogram and be asked if they want to view it or listen to the fetal heartbeat, thanks to a bill that passed today and that Governor Rick Perry says he can't wait to sign. P ... More >>

Carl Lewis' N.J. State Senate Run Going As Smoothly As His Anthem Singing

The political career of UH's Carl Lewis has, so far, proven to be as successful as his "Star-Spangled Banner"-singing sideline. In other words, not very successful at all. Lewis, who is trying to run for the state senate from his hometown New Jersey district, has been thrown off the ballot for no ... More >>

"Choose Life": Bill to Put Your Religious and Political Views on Texas License Plates Passes Senate

Holier than thou, person stuck behind me in traffic​State Senator Dan Patrick is proudly reporting that the Texas Senate has passed by a 21-10 vote his bill creating license plates that say "Choose Life," thereby, we guess, breaking off the crippling shackles of all those Texans who have been ... More >>

Comment of the Day: The Tea Party and Secession

​We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involv ... More >>

Rhode Island Wants a Medical Center Like Ours

Rhode Island: Almost as many square miles as Harris County​Lincoln Chafee, the former senator from Rhode Island who is now the (barely a) state's governor, announced today he wants to build a presumably mini-version of the Texas Medical Center. A "knowledge center" would be developed on land ... More >>

Voter ID Is a Texas Emergency, Rick Perry Declares

Rick Perry: It's a red-meat special in Austin today​Remember that vast tsunami of voter fraud that swept across Texas, coming close to throwing into chaos the very concept of democracy? Neither do we. Even Karl Rove, using every bit of the federal government he could get his hands on, couldn ... More >>

The Whipping Boy

How did class size limits become the symbol of an unnecessary luxury in our schools?

Texas Tribune Gets A Hefty New York Times Correction

The Texas Tribune: Mistakes were made​The Texas Tribune, the semi-new non-profit journalistic outfit, has been partnering with The New York Times. On Sundays, Times readers in the Lone Star State get two pages in their print edition with stories from Tribune writers. The partnership is relati ... More >>

Rep. Aaron Pena: GOP Gets Its Supermajority In Texas House: Now It Begins

It's a stampede!!​The upcoming legislative session in Austin might get pretty wild and entertaining -- if not beneficial to anyone who fears the GOP/Tea Party agenda -- thanks to a move today. State Rep. Aaron Pena, a Democrat from Edinburg, is about to announce he is now Aaron Pena, Republic ... More >>

FAIR-y Tales

Russell Pearce and Other Illegal-Immigration Populists Rely on Misleading, Right-Wing Reports to Scapegoat Immigrants and Terrify Penny-Pinched Americans.

FAIR-y Tales: Fantasy Voter Fraud

King Street Patriots Ready To Go National

The King Street Patriots have plans. Big plans. ​At a King Street Patriots meeting Monday night, the group proved, at least for one week, that it's doing what Democrats and liberals couldn't after riding a wave of emotion to Election Day victories in 2008: still showing up. The group's founder, Ca ... More >>

Tea Party Time: Texas Will Be Ground Zero For How They Govern

Time to govern​Second-day opening paragraphs on stories about disasters such as air crashes always include something about "picking through the charred wreackage." And that's what Democrats are doing now in Texas, where the state legislature races were, well, a disaster.No other state in the count ... More >>

Go Vote, Texans...In The Least Competitive State Legislative Races In The Country

It's nolo contendre in Texas legislative races​Not much action so far on this election day, although we have folks checking out the polling places (and feel free, readers, to pass on any reports of your own).We guess the quiet shouldn't be so surprising because, according to a new study, Texas has ... More >>

Watch Out Muslims: State Senator Dan Patrick Creates "Tea Party Caucus" In Legislature

Dan Patrick: FINALLY the Tea Party will be heard in Texas​Right-wing radio guru Dan Patrick has announced the creation of a Tea Party Caucusfor the upcoming Texas legislative session.And no, "Tea Party Caucus" is not necessarily a synonym for "Texas Legislature," at least not yet."The Tea Party ha ... More >>

Voter Intimidation Victim and Witness Come Forward, And Nov. 2 Looms Closer

Voter intimidation: everyone wants to shift the blame.​No one seems to want to play nice at the voting polls this year. And new names and organizations keep getting involved in the already over-crowded, controversial fray.King Street Patriots/The Tea Party. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. The Te ... More >>

Rick Perry & Bill White: Midnight Is Nigh In The Great (And Silly) Deadline For Debates

Debates over debates are so fun​The finger-pointing continued Wednesday as the great gubernatorial debate over who's at fault for not having a gubernatorial debate came to Houston.Republican Governor Rick Perry has given Democrat candidate Bill White until midnight tonight to release tax returns f ... More >>

1 In 5 Texas Republicans Support Secession; 1 In 5 Texans Support Roger Clemens

Roger Clemens: Texas does not have your back​Public Policy Polling is a respected firm that recently did a survey on the governor's race and other political matters.They threw in some other questions, too, and found some intriguing results. A full 21 percent of Texas Republicans support secession, ... More >>

New Anti-Perry Ad: Can The Return Of The Chicken Suit Be Far Behind?

Subtle.​Back to Basics, a PAC supporting Texas gubernatorial candidate Bill White, has unleashed a new anti-Rick Perry ad. We're not sure, but we think they're questioning the current governor's manhood. Tell Rick Perry to stop cowering and face Texans like a man. White's supporters are cont ... More >>

TCEQ & The Sunset Commission: Texas Environmental Groups Try Working Together

Coming together vs. TCEQ​The Texas Sunset Advisory Commission, made up of 12 state legislators who evaluate state agencies every dozen years, is examining the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and will make a recommendation during the next legislative session whether to renew, tweak, or ab ... More >>

Kinky Friedman

Our Bold Political Prediction For The Coming Governor's Race

​Here at Hair Balls, we like to scientifically sift through mountains of poll data, do extensive focus-group interviews, and examine voting trends dating back to the 1960s before making any bold predictions.This one time, as Michael Corleone would say, we are willing to make an exception.Our bold ... More >>

Is Casino Gambling in the Cards for Galveston?: Getting Up a Game

Bringing casinos to Texas would require a state constitutional amendment

Barack Obama and Me

It was the year 2000 and I was a young hungry reporter in Chicago covering a young hungry state legislator