Lubbock's political landscape

Yesterday local real estate developer John Leonard announced that he is a candidate for City Council District 5. (That seat was held by Tom Martin, the current mayor pro tem.) Tom Martin will be running for Mayor of Lubbock. Mayor Marc McDougal will likely run for a state office, possibly Delwin Jones's seat in the State House. (Can someone clarify that for me?)

This is the kind of smoothly running political machine that the Democratic Party lacks in this area. (That may be a good thing!)

Anyway, I wonder if we could compile a current "who is running for what" with the comments to this post. Only confirmed candidates, please. It would also be useful to know which offices have no declared candidates yet.

Our June DFA House Party

Why, this new blogger photos thing works great!

Thanks to everyone who came out to our June house party! We participated in the national conference call (go Johnnie!), shared what we leared from DemocracyFest, and discussed our organization's past, present, and future.

A special BIG THANK YOU to Sue W. for hosting!

Kay and Karl

If this story on The American Prospect is true: "Kay Bailey Hutchinson’s staff told us she agrees with Rove’s remarks," then I see a good opportunity for Barbara Ann Radnofsky to score some points by denouncing such offensive drivel.

It's my view that Rove's remarks about 9/11 are new low point for this administration's rhetoric.

Fun with Property Seizure

Barely squeaking through a Supreme Court near you:

"The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that local governments may seize people's homes and businesses -- even against their will -- for private economic development."
(emphasis mine)

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/06/23/scotus.property.ap/index.html

Here in Lubbock, TX we know a little bit about this sort of thing *cough* North Overton *cough* and its implications. Now it seems elected officials will no longer have to justify property seizures as being for the public good.

The dissenting justices were (believe it or not) O'Connor, Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas. From O'Connor's dissent:

"Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random. The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms."

Yeah, that sounds like Lubbock alright.

I think this is a powerful issue with cross-party appeal, and I mean all 3 parties that are active in Lubbock. Let's bring this issue to the foreground when campaign season comes!

Who your local elected officials are matters more now than ever before.

At DemFest!

Well, the four of us just finished our first day ay DemocracyFest! Great stuff today, and today is the weakest of the three days. We had a meetup host meeting (soon the term "meetup" will be obsoleted as DFA transitions away to its own software), an introduction to RootCamp and three sessions of caucuses. Particularly impressive for me was Mark Strama at the Bloggers' caucus (also the dude from PinkDome was good).

We expect to return to tha' LBK with loads of useful materials and insights!

More as we encounter it!

Lubbock: about to boom?

For years I've been hearing that Lubbock is poised to be the next hot spot in Texas, in terms of "good place to live" and "good place to do business" and "good place to go to school." And I see physical evidence of that just-beyond-the-horizon growth: Texas Tech always has new construction and expansion, the east-west freeway project has started, the construction on west loop 289 is almost finished, and downtown is getting some long-overdue attention from builders and planners.

I hope very much that Lubbock will also grow to be the progressive hub of West Texas. I feel in tune with the growth of the city when I see our new party headquarters put to good use and when I see progressive groups organize out of nothing. I am already confident that organizations like DFA, Tech Democrats, Students for Social Justice, YET, TDW, and the local Democratic party will continue to flourish.

So - how do we as progressives keep up with and contribute to the growth of Lubbock? I think the answer is to involve ourselves in all aspects of the city's growth. For many of us, this means branching out into new areas, sometimes areas that have traditionally not been friendly to progressives. We need our voice heard in every professional group, governing body, and neighborhood association. Sometimes this means taking the time to find those who are sympathetic to us and already in these groups; sometimes it means joining a group or running for office ourselves.

After this weekend's DemocracyFest in Austin, several of us will have new tools and techniques to share that will help us boom with Lubbock.

Got any ideas to share?

85 years later

"Just think -- it cost your government $130 million to try to get me. I took them over rough, hilly country. Sometimes for fifty miles at a stretch they had no water. They had nothing but the sun and mosquitoes... And nothing was gained."

-- Pancho Villa, 1878-1923

85 years after Pancho Villa raided Columbus, New Mexico, our country still forgets the lesson that a great show of military force is not always the best response to a terrorist attack. I hope I'm not reading a similarly gloating Bin Laden quote a decade from now.

History: it's something to think about.

Thought for the day: neighbors

As I was reading an excellent speech by Bill Moyers, I came across the following gem:

"[W]hat matters most isn't what is said in Washington but what you do on the ground across the country to build an independent infrastructure, generate ideas, drive local campaigns, persuade the skeptic, organize your neighbors, and carry on the movement at the grass roots for social and economic justice."

He wasn't talking about DFA, but substitute Vermont for Washington and I think the statement remains true. Our organization's real strength is on the ground here in Lubbock and in the surrounding communities, because we are of these communities. So, while it's nice to keep up with what the national organization is doing, what matters the most is to understand the spirit of Lubbock and to have the credibility and courage to stand up and speak our views within the community. We need sympathetic hearts and minds, as well as energetic volunteers at election time. We won't find any of these by remaining silent.

Let me leave you with a few questions.

• When was the last time you talked to your next-door neighbors? Two doors down? Three? Did you talk politics?


• Does your neighborhood have a neighborhood group? (Many do.) Are you in it or can you start one?


• When was the last time you struck up a conversation with a stranger?

My own answers tell me that I have a lot of work to do.