Opinion

AUSTIN — Winners in the Nov. 4 general election on the whole proved that incumbency and/or running as a Republican continue to be assets when Texas voters hit the polls. Democrats Wendy Davis and Leticia Van de Putte lost by wide margins to Republicans Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick for the offices of governor and…

AUSTIN — Polls continued to show Republican candidates ahead in top-of-ballot races as Texas moved closer to the Oct. 31 early voting deadline before Election Day, Nov. 4. Political campaigns continued to work feverishly across Texas, knocking on doors, holding rallies, robocalling, planting signs, flooding mailboxes and barraging email accounts. Gubernatorial candidates state Sen. Wendy…

No matter how much you may like them (at least some of them), you just can’t trust politicians. Remember George Bush’s “Read my lips, no new taxes” promise? Or how about, “If you like your (health insurance) plan, you can keep it.” (Barack Obama, 2010) In a last ditch effort to cast aside opposition to…

This report just in as of press time Thursday morning. Elections administrator Yvonne Ramon says absentee ballots by mail are pouring into the Hidalgo County Elections office in unprecedented numbers. Those who know, say the reason is politiqueras who have previously been able to corrupt the vote through both absentee ballots and by “assisting” voters…

AUSTIN — With early voting in Texas only days away, the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 18 let stand a U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals order, thereby allowing Texas’ 2011 voter identification law to remain in force for the time being. Civil rights plaintiffs in Veasey et al. v. Perry et al. sought to…

After conversations with friends seeking information about the upcoming elections, I was reminded that many people want to know who they should vote for. They need more information about the candidates – more than just their biographies and campaign slogans. I will address two local races and Proposition 1 in this week’s column, and other…

AUSTIN — An Oct. 9 ruling by U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzalez Ramos of Corpus Christi prevents the state from enforcing the voter identification law passed by the Texas Legislature in 2011 as Senate Bill 14. In the case, Marc Veasey et al. v. Rick Perry et al., Ramos ruled the law was enacted with…

AUSTIN — Texans interested in who their next governor and lieutenant governor will be witnessed major party candidates for those offices engage in live, one-hour broadcast debates last week. Fellow state Sens. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, and Dan Patrick, R-Houston, opponents in the race for lieutenant governor, faced off in Austin on Sept.…

AUSTIN — A debate scheduled Sept. 29 pits Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, and Dan Patrick, R-Houston, two state senators who are vying to succeed David Dewhurst as lieutenant governor in 2015. Van de Putte, a pharmacist in private life, has served in the Senate since 1999. Patrick, a radio talk show host, was…

AUSTIN — While the governor and a group of trade-with-Texas promoters were in Japan and China last week, the 13th anniversary of the “9-11” terrorist attacks on the United States was broadly observed. Perry acknowledged the anniversary from afar and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who serves as acting governor when Perry is out of the…