RIP Eddie Bernice Johnson

Or "Peanut Butter and Johnson" as I called the South Dallas AND South Dallas suburbs Congresscritter, who only visited the burbs once in 9 years, and that for a Recovery Act highway project in Cedar Hill. Here's the Trib's obit.

And, my takedown follows.

The biggie? Her running flak for John Wiley Price and Friends of JWP over essentially trying to do a shakedown of Richard Allen over the Dallas Inland Port on I-20 in the late 2000-aughts. The reporting on that, per link in my blog, was some of Jim Schutze's best.

No. 2? Nepotism, and pretty blatant, with Congressional Black Caucus Foundation scholarships.

No. 3? Per the opening graf, her eventual, 2009, discovery that her district included the Best Southwest suburbs. (Those four suburbs made up one-fourth of the district's population. Maybe she thought they were too White, to be blunt? Reality is Lancaster turned majority-Black at or just before I moved there, DeSoto was majority-minority when I moved and majority-Black by 2009, and Cedar Hill was majority-minority by 2009. Reality is, on this, that contra Gromer Jeffers below, little of the bacon she brought home for Dallas went to the Best Southwest burbs; that 2009 "discovery" was to be at a ribbon-cutting for a highway project that was an Obama America Recovery Act project, not her own doing.)

No. 4? Voted for the Iraq War and continued to support it years later.

That said, as noted here, her "throw weight" in the House was long on the weak side, contra the Trib obit. (Also, the Trib obit mentions the bare bones of the scholarship deal, but nothing about the Inland Port.)

She was pretty much wasted space. (I'm sure the likes of Kuff would have a different take.)

==

Justin Miller at the Texas Observer goes stanning for her in his obit.

First, the "EBJ"? Never thought of it before, but surely consciously riffing on "LBJ"?

Second, he salutes her hand-picking her successor. Justin, another phrase for that is "machine politics." Given the scholarship nepotism issue, it's not surprising, but it is bad optics. He mentions some shortcomings, but none by name, while referencing Gromer Jeffers' obit in the Snooze. Problem? Jeffers, while mentioning the scholarship issue, mentions none of the others. Since the Snooze still bats somewhat from the right, Gromer overlooking the Iraq war might be acceptable; Justin doing so by his silence is not. Not covering the Dallas Inland Port? Not acceptable from Gromer, who, even if he didn't want to write about it, knows it. Also, Gromer doesn't note what I observed from personal experience, that she often seemed to see her district as only including South Dallas itself. And, although she might have gotten sideways with Our Man Downtown more than once, nonetheless, she still ran flak for him and his Friends of JWP on the Dallas Inland Port — which the Snooze in general covered badly when it covered it at all.

Interesting, Jim Schutze couldn't take time at his Mike Miles-fellating Substack to write about EBJ.

More interesting, and showing its slippage on anything more than blogging-brief hard level news since (rightfully) booting Schutze to the curb? The Dallas Observer has bupkis. You can still have Simone Carter come up to the Red on PRO Gainesville, but not write up EBJ's death? OK.

==

Side note: EBJ's family is suing Baylor Scott & White over her death. Sounds like even being semi-rich and semi-famous can't get you decent health care in Merikkka.

The Squad is still the Fraud, despite Ryan Grim's turd-polishing; but, so is the Congressional Progressive Caucus

Most of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, of which The Squad Fraud is a part, sent a letter to Warmonger Joe Monday asking him to push maybe just a tiny bit for negotiations on Ukraine. As Grim spells out at the Intercept, they then had the door slammed shut on them.

Well, no, per the statement (also embedded) on behalf of the caucus by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, its chairperson (pictured at right), they shut the door on themselves in a sense, Ryan. They could have tried pushing back against that "door," but chose not to.

Statement from @RepJayapal reaffirming support for Ukraine and clarifying the position of a letter to President Biden ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/ddcoyHu94H

— Progressive Caucus (@USProgressives) October 24, 2022

That's Groveling 101.

And, surrendering of leverage. Of course, the CPC surrendered leverage when all Dem Congresscritters, including all of the Fraud, voted for Warmonger Joe's first big Ukrainian arms bazaar bill. And, before AOC, Ilhan, etc. speak out, the Tweet above says Jayapal as CPC chair was speaking for the caucus, not just herself. (And, I checked AOC's Twitter Tuesday night.)

But wait, it gets better, which Grim's article was written too early to reveal.  And, that's seeing Jayapal throw her own staff under the bus:

"The Congressional Progressive Caucus hereby withdraws its recent letter to the White House regarding Ukraine. 

"The letter was drafted several months ago, but unfortunately released by staff without vetting. As chair of the Caucus, I accept responsibility for this."

Wow. Also "wow" is those trying to defend this, claiming that staff wrote this up in June or July, got the 30 who signed it to sign then, and there it sat, doing nothing, until the CPC policy director hit "send." So, you're defending Jayapal by claiming that she's not progressive and has a staff who recognizes it.

This:

Fewer than 1/3 of the Caucus signed the letter when written in June. That’s why they couldn’t release it in July. The policy director who was running the effort and two outside groups pushed to get it out. It’s not clear if more than 1 or 2 Members knew it was going, if that.

— Joe Cirincione (@Cirincione) October 26, 2022

But, note that Joe Cirincione is a member of the Nat-Sec Nutsacks™. And, he is essentially claiming that Progs Caucus staff didn't trust Jayapal, or rather, that they DID trust her to be exactly who she showed she is — someone who will grovel like a newspaper-smacked puppy by the military-industrial complex. And, the staff was right.

And, over at Rumble, Lee Camp destroys these claims by Cirincione and his ilk.

And then, there's people on that same Twitter feed saying replace Jayapal with AOC, when the real answer is "replace your AOC romance with a 'duopoly exit.'" For you folks, also from that Jayapal statement:

Democrats ... have strongly and unanimously supported and voted for every package of military (aid).

What part of "strongly and unanimously" do you not understand? Beyond my blogging about the Fraud's initial sellout?

And, since Grimm's article, for whatever reason, doesn't link to their original statement, let's go there. And quote:

But as legislators responsible for the expenditure of tens of billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars in military assistance in the conflict, we believe such involvement in this war also creates a responsibility for the United States to seriously explore all possible avenues, including direct engagement with Russia, to reduce harm and support Ukraine in achieving a peaceful settlement.

There you go.

You just surrendered your leverage, per your groveling response of saying you're going to vote for all new expenditures, or, per a sex-neutral upgrade of a famous LBJ saying?

You just put your gonads in Biden's pocket.

There you go.

Of course, the Congressional Progressive Caucus itself has become more and more bullshit. Per its own website, it has nearly 100 members, or 40 percent of the Dem Congressional caucus. If you think everybody in there is truly progressive, I've got beachfront in North Dakota to sell you. Proof of that? If those nearly 100 members, only 30 signed the letter to Warmonger Joe.

It's ALSO of course, interesting that the CPC says "we're nearly 100 members" but doesn't list them all by name on that link, probably because they know people like me would laugh. Well, if you click through from that link to "caucus members" you'll see them all. That includes the many who cut Israel blank checks (remember that dispute flaring up just a few weeks ago?).From here in Tex-ass, I can tell you Eddie Bernice Johnson is no progressive and Lloyd Doggett is not much better. Nor is Sylvia Garcia. Jared Huffman puts capitalism in front of environment at Point Reyes. And, I haven't even talked about members that oppose BDS.

Update, Nov. 18: Will the CPC call out Warmonger Joe's lying lackey about Russian missiles?

==

Update: All of the Squad but one (Tlaib) is also the Fraud on railway workers issues, as was about all of the CPC in general.

Texas progressives talk turkey on Beto, Gohmert Pyle etc.

At the Monthly, Jonathan Tilove takes a deeper dive on R.F. O'Rourke's gubernatorial announcement and hopes, complete with interview. I wondered last week, in discussing his announcement, whether we'd get Beto 2018 or Beto 2020, especially on gunz. In the wake of the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict and the misframing of the trial, law, etc. by most of #BlueAnon, we're getting Beto 2020! He stands by his "Hell yes, we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47." Good luck in the general, Beto, if you're the nominee. You'll need it.

It appears that Gohmert Pyle either got chickenshit on challenging Kenny Boy Paxton or, more likely and with Paxton already facing two challengers, would-be donors got chickenshit on him. UPDATE: Turns out that maybe Gohmert is that much of a tech putz, OR, for whatever reasons, somebody told him to freeze out Mark Davis, because, he's IN that race, and that needs a separate blog post. And, it now has that.

Strangeabbott's new Secretary of State nominee, John Scott, is not a Trumpist on alleged election fraud and actually says a priority is "bringing the temperature down" on such nuttery, while insisting that selected county audits will be bipartisan and won't involve outsiders, unlike Aridzona. At the same time, years back, as an assistant AG, he defended the state's voter ID bill; Texas Dems are split on their takes, especially with the feds suing Texas over its new law. The Trib has more on the county audits portion of the new election bill, including noting that the Lege forgot to dedicate funding for it, so the SoS' emergency fund is being raided.

Robert Santos, originally from San Antonio, is the first Hispanic to head the Census Bureau. Texas Monthly has a profile.

A Texas law firm represents Eric Coomer, the Dominion Voting Systems employee suing Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, et al. Here's where they're at right now.

Eddie Bernice Johnson says "she's outta there" on Congress. Even though Peanut Butter and Johnson wants a woman to follow her, I'll put a prop bet on Carl Sherman. He's relatively moderate, like her, but can triangulate off of not being under her thumb, especially if multiple women run. Plus, the Best Southwest suburbs are a growing part of the district vis-a-vis South Dallas, and that's his homeland. (The district changed marginally on the southwest and modestly on the southeast.) Related question? Token Republicans have challenged here in about every general since I first lived in the Metromess itself 20 years ago. A couple of times, IIRC, a Libertarian jumped in. But never, even when the Dallas County Green Party was semi-active in the 2000-oughts, did a Green get in. Could an open race change that?

Speaking of Greens? Hunter Crow is running for Railroad Commish. He's got about two more election cycles to go before entering "perennial candidate" territory.

The battle to succeed Pee Bush as land commish has heated up, and includes a party-switching Kleberg family scion running as a Democrap. Kuff, naturally, likes a likely ConservaDem party switcher entering the race. Not yet heard of any Green names for this race, which, per party core issues should be the most important along with RRC. 

Off the Kuff notes and comments on the seventh lawsuit filed so far over the new redistricting maps.

Stace restarts his Thoughts on Viernes series as there were too many news items on which to opine.

Crystal Mason's appeal of her conviction for voting illegally as a felon may have a chance.

The Lake Highlands Advocate analyzes the racial housing wealth gap in Dallas.

Mean Green Cougar Red provides a final update on the Conference USA membership scramble.

The Texas Observer shows the "domino effect" the state's abortion ban is having on clinics around the US.

National and global

SocraticGadfly offers a twofer on environmental-related issues. First, as promised last week, here's his take on Glasgow COP26. Second, he has a long piece on the National Park Service 86-ing an internal study about a mass of employee complaints about sexual harassment, sexual assault and discrimination.

The percentage of voters registered to minor parties (in states that require such) has hit a century-long new high.

Supply chain problems are starting to ease, ease enough that for American hypercapitalism, good wingnut alleged Christians can fill up on made in China shit.

Or, maybe it's "Made in Serbia" shit, as Vietnamese workers at a Chinese-owned factory there are lobbing a variety of human and labor rights allegations against Beijing.

Counterpunch has gone back to the best, or worst, of Alex Cockburn days with a story about how US POWs claim we did germ warfare against North Korea in the Korean War without, at least before the paywall, noting Chinese and / or North Korean "interrogation techniques" that might have induced such statements. With that, Jeff St. Clair, especially given that the late Alex's younger brother Patrick remains a contributor, is getting closer to being deblogrolled again.

Xi Jinping lies about the People's Republic never having made a territorial acquisition.

Texas progressives kick Royce West, Eddie Lucio, Goeb, Abbott

The Texas Progressives wishes blowhard Donald Trump would follow blowhard Hurricane Dorian and Sharpie himself out to sea. Short of that, we wish short-term forecast meteorologists would stop the reverse weather porn of forecasting seasonal, or even slightly below average temps, for the Pointy Abandoned Object State™. Until then, here's your roundup for the week.


Texas politics

The Trib bemoans the potential effect the end of straight-ticket voting could have on downballot races while, in a matter of framing, ignoring the boost it could have for third-party ballot access maintenance in downballot statewide races. #Fify, Trib.

Off the Kuff discusses some strategies for dealing with the latest voting restriction ploys.

The Observer looks at ConservaDem Eddie Lucio getting not just one but two primary challengers. Gus Bova notes that Lucio has consistently "punched down" on a lot of people in his 30 years under the Pink Dome. Many Hispanics as well as Anglos in his district hate him. Question is: Are there enough of them — and will enough of them turn out — to unseat him? Now, if only some Dems in Houston would do the same to the Texas Senate's No. 2 ConservaDem, John Whitmire.

Also at the Observer, Christopher Collins talks about homeless NIMBYism. (Of course, homelessness has more than two sides on its causes as well as its solutions. And, there's bits of NIMBYism in all of that.)

Federal judge Keith Ellison is threatening to lock up some TDCJ folks if they don't stop the cruel and inhumane sweatboxes without air conditioning in Texas prisons.

Danny Goeb, our Lite Guv, after the Odessa shooting, backed some mostly cosmetic changes, but did include closing the "stranger to stranger" gun sales loophole, and the NRA (Nazi Redneck Assholes) is so wingnut it's even sniping at him.

Austin's ABC station collected the emails that pissed-off people flamed Greg Abbott with after the El Paso mass shooting.

Dan Solomon doesn't see much value in "expedited executions" for mass shooters.

Guest columning at the NYT, Chris Hooks offers his explanation for the so-called Texodus.

Better Texas Blog worries about lower Medicaid and CHIP enrollment numbers.


Texas politics, US Senate race

Dems seeking to replace John Cornyn debated in Frisco recently. Gunz was the big issue; most candidates said they support some sort of buyback program. (I'll have a "roundup" piece coming soon.)

Yours truly saw the Texas Trib's piece on Royce West's federal financial disclosure forms, and knocked out an update to his old "baggage" pieces about Royce.

Dallas

Jim Schutze writes about how Eddie Bernice Johnson is apparently ready to sell out South Dallas. (If she's involved, surely Our Man Downtown, John Wiley Price, is getting a cut somewhere, somehow.) Schutze also says Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson's real conflicts of interest are far greater than his on-paper ones. And, for the trifecta (including the third time he's done this) Schutze continues his "interesting" or weird Amber Guyger bromance.


Houston

Gwendoline Wu presents ten apps to improve your Houston living experience.

Texana

The latest Permian oil boom is sending the Pecos cantaloupe (they're grown on both sides of the state line, at least a few) to the graveyard.

The Current reviews a new animated series set in San Antonio.

The TPA wishes The Bloggess good luck with her planned bookstore.

National politics

SocraticGadfly took an initial look at Green Party presidential candidate Howie Hawkins and his intra-Greens controversial statements on Russiagate shortly before his visit to Texas. (A follow-up post is coming, about his Dallas stop.)

Columbia Journalism Review, with input from climate journalists, says that the CNN climate town hall was better than many expected. Well, within Democrats, it did.


Other national

Urban Edge examines the connection between wealth and tree distribution in American cities.

Royce West baggage, the latest and greatest

I have repeatedly mentioned the "baggage" that Royce West would carry into this race. Well, his financial disclosures show yet more of that. He's worth between $9-$28 million, and — shades of Tony Sanchez — runs a tax consulting company in partnership with the company of GOP megadonor G. Brint Ryan.

Who? The Trib explains:

Ryan is a multi-millionaire Dallas tax consultant and CEO of Ryan LLC. He and his company’s political action committees have poured millions into the coffers of state and federal campaigns and political causes — mostly benefiting GOP candidates — including over $100,000 to the Republican National Committee and the party’s congressional fundraising arm since Donald Trump was elected president, according to state and federal filings. 

Ryan also served as a tax adviser to Trump during the 2016 campaign and his company paid the $100,000 fee for Donald Trump Jr.’s controversial 2017 speech at the University of North Texas, where Ryan serves on the system’s board of regents, according to published reports. Ryan’s state PACs have given West at least $37,000 for his Texas Senate campaigns since 2006, state filings show.

That's PLENTY of oops right there.

Being in bed with a Trumper in this election is HORRIBLE optics. And, there's no Eddie Bernice Johnson to bail him out on this one, and it's not a local race. The Trib notes that federal election reporting requirements (didn't Julian Castro a few weeks ago teach you that?) are much stricter than the Tom DeLay bullshit here in Texas.

But, but, that's not all.

West reported a 40 percent stake in RyanWest LLC, which touts itself as a minority-owned company. As a partner in the firm, he also reported receiving $20,800 over the period covered by the federal report. It’s not clear who else has an ownership stake in the firm.

It IS clear to these eyeballs, though, that that's a violation of the spirit of minority-owned companies, unless other minorities own 11 percent AND were not fronted ownership money by Royce.

The Trib also notes that some of West’s financial filings conflict with other financial filings.

Oh? He and his staff also engaged in the self-inflicted wound of “not returning phone calls.”

If that, plus what I've linked about West's connections to the Dallas Inland Port shenanigans, his abandonment of South Dallas development after he got his UNT-Dallas built and other things isn't enough? If the Trib's federal campaign filing analysis isn't enough?

A full decade ago, Jim Schutze had a laundry list of All Things Royce in the ethics world. That, in turn, leads me to the question of whether money or power motivates him more.

Of course, should he run the gantlet of the Democratic primary successfully AND topple John Cornyn in the general, he'll have less of either. He'll be a first-term backbencher, one of 100 rather than one of 31. He'll have to be a full-time Congresscritter, not a part-time Legiscritter with a grifting (for both power and money) law office. All of his current legal clients among school districts would likely drop him like a hot potato if having him on retainer threatened federal education funds for them.

I’ll give you 50-50 odds that Royce West turns out to be the Loopy Lupe Valdez of the 2020 primary. The difference is that, with credible opponents, he’s not getting the nomination.

In the name of god, go, Eddie Bernice Johnson #MeToo (update)

Riffing on Oliver Cromwell's blunt dismissal of the Rump Parliament, Eddie Bernice Johnson needs to leave Congress now.

Beyond the general fact that she's part of a gerontocracy populating a fair-sized portion of both houses of Congress, by both parties, she now has entered the world of victim-blaming on sexual assault and abuse, and then tried to walk it back.

She's not alone on this. It's part of what is known as "just world belief," described in relation to women blaming women in this piece.

On the gerontocracy, she's only at the bottom edge, not quite 72. It seems longer for the time-server who has been in the House 24 years.

Kind of like the true gerontocrat, Dianne Feinstein in the Senate, she's a wasted space. She's a semi-neoliberal squish in what should be a more truly liberal south Dallas and south suburban Dallas district. That's My Congress ranks her on the edge between somewhat liberal and weakly liberal. GovTrack similarly puts here 100 or so spots below the most liberal House members. The former has her near Chris Van Hollen and the latter near Debbie Wasserman Schultz. (GovTrack also has her as a shade more liberal than Lloyd Doggett. Have to remember that next time I kick the Indivisble Team sheepdoggers.)

And, speaking of that, as I've blogged before, during my 9-plus years in the Best Southwest suburbs, which made up one-quarter of her district's population, she visited the burbs only once. And, that was for an Obama stimulus project ribbon cutting. And, as I noted in a second post, she or her staff apparently read either a newspaper column about that or my blog, and she paid a second visit. And, she's had a bit of grifting work in her Congresscritter time.

And, that's not to mention the seeming cover-up work for others' apparent grifting related to the Dallas Inland Port.

==

Update: Barbara Caraway is primarying her, along with one other person. Caraway would be even worse, if that's possible, both on her own, and her political connection with hubby Dwaine. Eric Williams, who ran as an independent in 2014, would be better than either.

'Our Man Downtown': John Wiley Price HAS BEATEN the rap (so far)

Having lived in Dallas — specifically the Best Southwest suburbs — most the previous decade, I'm familiar with John Wiley Price. Indeed, as a newspaper journalist, I've met him a few times, and reported on a few events in which he was involved, as part of my suburban newspaper group was in his county commission precinct.

Regarding his current federal trial, do I think Price has done some ethically slippery things? Hellz yes. Do I think they're legally slippery? Also, ditto.

(Update, April 28: Hung jury on the tax charges, and acquitted of the bribery and mail fraud charges that Judge Barbara Lynn said she was likely to dismiss anyway due to prosecutorial incompetence or worse.) ‡

That said, there IS the irony of D Magazine's piece about him, "The Hustler," written by later Dallas mayor Laura Miller, who turned out to be pretty much of a hustler herself, although not one likely committing illegalities.*

As for the claims about business shakedowns, or trying to force people to use JWP-connected businesses for certain things, let's just say that, off the record, I've heard stuff myself. Stuff related to freeway expansion and bridges.

Beyond what the Observer, in this piece about five key trial points, and the Snooze have reported on Richard Allen's Dallas Inland Port ideas, I heard some bits myself about the port. The stuff in the paragraph above relates to development a couple of years before that.

And it's not racial. JWP will, from what I've read, heard, and seen, hustle you no matter your race.

And, per a quote he gave the Snooze after Judge Lynn officially killed the trial on the hung charges? Yes, he will be so transparently hypocritical as to be laughable:

That's worse than Jesse Jackson's Seuss-speak. And JWP's only god, at least in this world, is JWP.

Do I think what he was on trial for is illegal in the actual legal sense of the word? No. As in, I don't think the prosecutors have the goods on him beyond a reasonable doubt.

And, that was even before their most recent clusterfuck on discovery issues last week. It's part of a whole series of prosecution clusterfucks. Frankly, I think Judge Barbara Lynn should have gone ahead and pulled the plug last week with a mistrial ruling. It would have done both Price and the feds a favor — and hopefully would have done southern Dallas County voters, and Democrats, a favor as well. Don't forget that Dwaine Caraway's lawsuit against JWP is still working its way through the court system.

Our Man Downtown could have reviewed his defense strategy. He also could have started doing reflections about not running for re-election again. Meanwhile, Dallas County Dems could also start talking about nudging him out, and/or recruiting a primary opponent if he won't leave peacefully. That's the favors for everybody else. There's three full years until his next election year. If Dems won't recruit somebody, that shows their own problems in Dallas County. And they've got them. For years, despite repeated evidence she's nothing but a neoliberal hack, nobody's primaried Eddie Bernice Johnson. That said, with things like Kwanzaafest, JWP's a better retail politician.**

Meanwhile, the feds could figure out if they've got a viable case against OMD, and if they don't, then drop it. If they do, then devote the manpower to ironing out their presentation before the next trial. And get new prosecutors involved.

But, since Judge Lynn didn't do that, a jury starts deliberations Tuesday, after closing arguments. Price's lawyer was brilliant not only in not calling him to the stand, but in wrapping up his case on Thursday, giving jurors plenty of time to think about the feds' incompetence. At a minimum, if JWP is convicted, he's got clear grounds to ask for a new trial. Lynn would have been better having everybody start over for that reason, even though this case has drug on for years already.

Judge Lynn first gave JWP a partial break, saying she will likely toss the six mail fraud charges even if the jury convicts. If she does, in my non-legal opinion, I'm not sure how the conspiracy charge stands; that leaves "only" the tax evasion.

And, ADA Simonton's response sounds like foot-stomping, further indicating how weak the gummint's case is.

A way out of the thicket might be, if Lynn's not going to do the mistrial route, for JWP to take a nolo on one tax charge, agree to cut the appropriate check to the IRS, and agree to immediate resignation in lieu of serving any time in the clink.

But I doubt Price would take such a deal. And, maybe he shouldn't.

The prosecution's closing argument was as weak as its trial presentation. Katherine Miller, to my eyes, essentially argued that Price should be tried for violations of county ethics police. If County Judge Clay Jenkins and two other votes on the Commissioners Court want to censure Price, go for it. Not Katherine Miller's job, though, if OMD didn't commit criminal offenses. Such censure, with the rest of the court 3-1 Democrat, and Jenkins still giving no clear appearance that he's anything more than Price's water boy, is not likely.

‡ The feds have one month, per Lynn's mistrial order, to decide whether or not to retry him on the tax charges. Whether they will or not depends on how much they indulge whatever mix of stubbornness, frustration and embarrassment prosecutors feel right now.

==

* Laura Miller's legal hustles have basically involved being suck-ups to much of the Dallas business class she excoriated when working at the Dallas Observer, then doing that in spades after leaving the mayor's office.

** Now that Eddie Bernice's district goes out in the 'burbs more and more, not just city of Dallas, somebody smart from said 'burbs, which she never visited until my last month on the job, would be the ideal candidate to challenger her.

(While we're at it, Yvonne Davis is another long-term south Dallas black politico who needs to leave or get pushed out, as this year's performance in the Texas Lege shows.  And don't even get me started on Helen Giddings.)

Eddie Bernice Johnson, liar

I've known for years that the south Dallas Congresswoman wasn't that liberal. Even before she showed herself a moderate "squish" on the Iraq War.

Now, as the scandal over steering college scholarships to her relatives continues to expand, it's clear she's unethical, too.

The latest?

Congresswoman Johnson asked for those controversial Congressional Black Caucus Foundation scholarship checks to be sent directly to her grandkids, not their schools:

the letters suggest a far more direct role for the Dallas Democrat than she acknowledged in the last week after revelations by The News that she awarded at least 23 scholarships to her relatives and the children of a top staffer – in violation of the foundation's nepotism and residency rules.

"There have been statements made by Congresswoman Johnson that she was oblivious to the process and that she was sort of detached from it and was not involved in the detail," (Johnson's GOP challenger Stephen) Broden said. "We see here that she was orchestrating how the checks should be made out."

It's too late this year, but assuming she survives the latest electoral challenge, there's GOT TO BE either a primary challenger, or a Green Party general-election opponent, who will step up.

Aug. 17 healthcare round-up

The Obama White House now says HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius “misspoke” when she said the public option wasn’t “essential.”

Misspoke? Deliberate trial balloon? Sacrificial lamb? All possibilities with this White House, which is about 25 percent Machiavellian and 75 percent befuddled on this issue, especially since another WH official says the media miscovered this.

WTF? It’s a talking heads show. No, she said what she said.

Good to see that Dallas Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, a registered nurse, is among those saying keep it in on the public option.

Meanwhile, Paul Krugman carefully explains the three main options to do better than we are now.

At the same time, north of the border, the Canadian Medical Association wants to tweak, or more its country’s national health coverage.

Eddie Bernice Johnson reads this blog, or my old paper

Well, somebody on her staff does, at least.

Last month, in the last column in my former newspaper, and in part in a blog post before that, I noted that in the nine-plus years I've been in the south DAllas suburbs, Congresswoman Johnson had never graced our presence, before deciding she needed to show up for an Obama-stimulus-boosted highway construction project groundbreaking.

Well, lo and behold, she's now on the list, Aug. 21, as one of the speakers at the Best Southwest Chamber of Commerce's TGIF legislative breakfasts.

Eddie Bernice Johnson discovers existence of suburbs

In nine-plus years, with one brief hiatus, of covering news in south suburban Dallas for Today Newspapers, I have NEVER seen Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson. I’ve met members of her staff, who have held a couple of community meetings for her. But, I’ve never seen her.

Not after the 2004 flooding in Lancaster, even.

It’s as if, for the 16-plus years since she was elected to Congress, only the city of Dallas was “really” part of her Congressional district. That’s also even though the suburban portion of District 30 represents about one-fifth of the district by population.

In contrast, Kenny Marchant of the 24th District has been in Cedar Hill more than once that I’ve seen, in DeSoto, and elsewhere, despite the fact that the portion of our south-of-the-Trinity suburbs that constitute his district is a smaller percentage than for Johnson.


Well, apparently EBJ had President Barack Obama take a look at her Congressional District map with her, because she’s finally visiting the suburbs.

And how did Obama help? Well, she’s visiting a road construction project that, via the Texas Department of Transportation, is getting some Obama stimulus money.

Her motivations are so transparent to be laughable. Increasing the political factor, with U.S. Department of Transportation Deputy Secretary John Porcari scheduled to be in attendance, I guess EBJ had to show up.

Also, apparently suburban media don’t exist. I have yet to get an e-mail from her office about this event on my newspaper office e-mail.

That said, a Democratic opponent to EBJ who promises to campaign down here in the burbs next spring will get plenty of space here. And, a Green candidate who runs against her in the general will get even more coverage.

Update, 2017: The actual ceremony was on the Cedar Hill side of 67 and thus in Marchant's district, to boot.

John Wiley Price looks at ‘shakedown’ suit

Price, the dean, or the class clown at times, of the Dallas County Commissioners Court wants to depose Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson and Dallas County Judge Jim Foster, to determine whether or not to press a libel suit against the two of them.

And, if they didn’t? Will he go after the Dallas Observer, whose gadfly reporter, Jim Schutze, has been kicking Price in the testimacles on a regular basis the last couple of months over his…

(alleged)

Shakedown attempts on The Allen Group, which is developing a 6,000-acre transportation/warehousing megasite in south central Dallas, Wilmer, Hutchins and Lancaster.

The “shakedown” allegations come from comments Johnson, in particular, reportedly made to Schutze.

Price says the two fellow Democrats accused him of unethical if not illegal behavior and therefore may have:

“Therefore may have seriously damaged his reputation.”

Ahh, JWP.

You have to have a reputation in the first place. Well, you have to have a good reputation.

Friends of mine both white and black report that your (alleged) shakedowns, which began with African-American Hutchins Mayor Artis Johnson three years ago, over the Wintergreen Road bridge over the Union Pacific intermodal facility, note that the “people” you’re trying to help aren’t Dallas County blacks but Dallas County FOJWP who also happen to be black.

EB&J claims she never used the word “shakedown.”

Here’s what Schutze writes her up as saying in his initial story:

Johnson told me last week she views Commissioner Price’s role, in particular, as part of a long, bad history: “I see all of these different deals that he’s trying to do over the years, shaking people down and all that kind of stuff.”

And further on:

“John was making sure he put a cork in there to stop everything until they did what he wanted them to do.”

OK, she uses the verb form, not the noun, in the first quote.

Oh, per the Observer’s Unfair Park blog, Schutze’s got EB&J on tape, too. (And, the Snooze never did, according to the Observer, try to contact Jimbo.)

AND, and… at the Unfair Park link, there’s MP3s of all those conversations.

Also, asking to do depositions before filing a suit, even if for the purpose of determining who to sue, is basically a judicial fishing expedition.

That said, I'd love to see this suit go forward.

Maybe we can get Royce West on the stand, too, and figure out how Royce was either dumb enough or tacky enough to get mixed up with JWP's business on this issue.

The real reason Royce West won’t run for statewide office

The south Dallas-based Texas state senator is too busy helping John Wiley Price shake down would be new businesses. In this case, it’s been The Allen Group, would-be developers of the Dallas Logistics Hub.

I had suspected Royce had a finger in the pie on Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert’s plan to delay The Allen Group’s work through forcing an 18-month master plan into place. At the time I first blogged about that, I didn’t know if Royce was looking for Perot money related to his boosterism of UNT-Dallas, or was engaged in JWP-type antics.

Well, now we know.

Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson gave a wrist slap to the two, but, as Jim Schuetze puts it, Allen Group CEO Richard Allen had to sign off on a Kafkaesque “confession” of being a bad boy for questioning Royce and JWP’s good intentions.

Psst, Richard Allen. Ask EBJ if she needs a Hudson’s Books warehouse at the Logistics Hub.

When did Joe Barton move to Arlington? And EBJ leave the state?

As far as I know, "Smokey Joe" is still in Ennis. But, maybe the Morning Snooze knows something I don't.

Also, is Eddie Bernice Johnson's 30th District no longer part of north Texas? Her race wasn't even profiled.

What I know is that the News' editorial room cuts must be cutting close to the bone.

Science policy questions for Cornyn and Noriega

And, Eddie Bernice Johnson and her challenger, Fred Wood, while we’re at it.

From the folks who TRIED to bring us ScienceDebate 2008 during the presidential primary season, but for the pointed lack of cooperation of both Republican and Democratic candidates, with the input of readers, here is the list of seven questions related to science policy that every candidate for the House or Senate should be asked.

The basic categories are innovation, climate change, energy, education, water, research and health. Read the whole thing for a detailed question in each category and more, as well as links to learn how to fire science-related questions at your candidates.

A list of questions for the presidential candidates is forthcoming.

Eddie Bernice Johnson looking weak on the Hill

At No. 264, Johnson ranks below the halfway point of the 435 Members of Congress as ranked by Congress.org power rankings. Here’s the group’s criteria:

1) Position: How much power might the legislator wield through his/her position in the Congress by virtue of tenure, new committee assignments or new leadership position? This Power Category includes some new weightings for all committees, subcommittees, and leadership positions, taking into consideration the new majority or minority party status of the member.

2) Indirect Influence: How much power has the legislator demonstrated or may be capable of demonstrating to influence the congressional agenda or outcome of votes through the media or congressional caucuses.

3) Legislative Activity: How much power has the legislator demonstrated through the passage of legislation or shaping legislation through amendments thus far? The team eliminated from that data items which did not substantially change the bill or existing law. These included amendments dealing with technical changes or bills of a ceremonial or commemorative nature such as naming of post offices or other public buildings, or non-binding resolutions that expressed the “sense of the Congress.”

4) Earmarks: This is a new criteria added to the 2008 Power Rankings as a result of Congress’ decision in 2007 to make the earmarking process more transparent. How successful was the legislator at securing funds for local projects in his or her district or state?

In addition, the project team recognized that Members of Congress can exert or possess power that cannot be measured by these standard measures. Therefore, we created the “Sizzle/Fizzle” factor. For example, “Sizzle” factors can include a legislator’s unique background and experience (Sen. John McCain, R-AZ) or relationships (Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY) or newfound popularity (Sen. Barack Obama, D-IL) that somehow adds weight to their power.

Since Eddie Bernice has been around for quite a while, what her low ranking is saying is that she hasn’t done squat as far as serious legislation. She’s a career backbencher, to use British parliamentary terms. And, she doesn’t have a lot of indirect influence. In fact, only one Democrat in Texas’ U.S. House delegation, Henry Cuellar, ranks lower, out of the 13 total.

Eddie Bernice Johnson looking weak on the Hill

At No. 264, Johnson ranks below the halfway point of the 435 Members of Congress as ranked by Congress.org power rankings. Here’s the group’s criteria:

1) Position: How much power might the legislator wield through his/her position in the Congress by virtue of tenure, new committee assignments or new leadership position? This Power Category includes some new weightings for all committees, subcommittees, and leadership positions, taking into consideration the new majority or minority party status of the member.

2) Indirect Influence: How much power has the legislator demonstrated or may be capable of demonstrating to influence the congressional agenda or outcome of votes through the media or congressional caucuses.

3) Legislative Activity: How much power has the legislator demonstrated through the passage of legislation or shaping legislation through amendments thus far? The team eliminated from that data items which did not substantially change the bill or existing law. These included amendments dealing with technical changes or bills of a ceremonial or commemorative nature such as naming of post offices or other public buildings, or non-binding resolutions that expressed the “sense of the Congress.”

4) Earmarks: This is a new criteria added to the 2008 Power Rankings as a result of Congress’ decision in 2007 to make the earmarking process more transparent. How successful was the legislator at securing funds for local projects in his or her district or state?

In addition, the project team recognized that Members of Congress can exert or possess power that cannot be measured by these standard measures. Therefore, we created the “Sizzle/Fizzle” factor. For example, “Sizzle” factors can include a legislator’s unique background and experience (Sen. John McCain, R-AZ) or relationships (Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY) or newfound popularity (Sen. Barack Obama, D-IL) that somehow adds weight to their power.

Since Eddie Bernice has been around for quite a while, what her low ranking is saying is that she hasn’t done squat as far as serious legislation. She’s a career backbencher, to use British parliamentary terms. And, she doesn’t have a lot of indirect influence. In fact, only one Democrat in Texas’ U.S. House delegation, Henry Cuellar, ranks lower, out of the 13 total.

Don’t buy Hudson Books’ “Euro” coffee at DFW Airport

It tastes like Starbucks watered down one-third with Folgers and one-third with water.

Now we know why Eddie Bernice Jonson has a share in Hudson and didn’t want the Wright Amendment repealed.