Here’s your “Election Day” news and views roundup. Thanks to everyone participating in the political process today, and especially to Harris County poll workers for their hard work in pulling it off despite a fire that wiped out all the equipment just a short time ago!
- Could Houston have its own downtown serial killer? (Isiah Carey's Insite)
- With new names, illegal massage parlors stay open in Houston (Yang Wang, Houston Chronicle)
- Election season cries of voter fraud, suppression hit fever pitch across the US (Steve Miller, Texas Watchdog)
- Harris County focus of national attention in voter fraud debate (Trent Seibert, Texas Watchdog)
- King Street Poll Watchers Absolved of Harassment (Warner Todd Huston, EmergingCorruption.org)
- A Kinder, Gentler Tea Party in Houston (Michael Berryhill, Texas Observer)
- Political Partisans Give $8 Million in Final Week (Ross Ramsey and Matt Stiles, Texas Tribune)
Steve and Amber Mostyn and their law firm have contributed at least $9.2 million so far this election cycle — by far the most of any single donor. And they played big through the last week, giving three-quarters of a million dollars to a collection of PACs and candidates.
THAT is a pretty big story (especially given the success of a handful of Progressive millionaires in flipping Colorado from Republican to Democratic over a few election cycles) — and yet, the Texas Tribune chose to christen its “partnership” with the New York Times with the umpteenth story on GOP money man Bob Perry instead.
- Cohen, Hochberg, Vo appear vulnerable (BurkaBlog)
Burka, the “dean” of the state’s lackluster political media, has now pulled this post and seemingly changed his mind about the whole thing. For what it’s worth, I’m doubtful any of these three will lose, but they might have been in more trouble if the area GOP had snapped to the coming tsunami sooner and gone hard at the seats. - TV anchors named Barajas taking over Houston and Texas (Mike McGuff)
- The Future of Air Travel Thanks to the TSA (Stephan Segraves, badice.com)
Let’s start sending notes to the men and women who work for us in government and ask that a serious look be taken at the procedures used at airports and oversight of the TSA. If someone in either House wants to make this their pet project, I’ll back them 100%.
For those of you who fly out of IAH, you can technically clear security at any checkpoint so long as your airline does not require you to go through a certain one (some international flights do). A number of the checkpoints do not have the backscatter machines, feel free to use those.
Agreed on both points! We’re certainly behind any local pol who wants to stand up for travelers (read: voters) against TSA Security Theater.
