Tx Capitol Report | A view from the Texas state capitol

Lawmaker Pickett lands leadership award

Stat Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, will receive the Legislative Leadership Award for his work helping veterans in the state.

The Texas Veterans Commission will present Pickett, who is Chairman of the state House Defense and Veterans Affairs Committee, with the award at 2 p.m. Thursday in his Capitol office. Pickett is one of nine legislators who received the award.

Below is a portion of the press release from Pickett's office:

"This award recognizes his work to secure funding for the Texas Veterans Commission, enabling the Commission to continue its mission; working for Texas Veterans and their families. Through Pickett's efforts and dedication the Commission's task expanded  their role serving Veterans with the Housing4TexasHeroes Program and finding a new Women Veterans Coordinator.

Representative Pickett is being recognized for his tireless effort to ensure that Texas Veterans would have the access they deserve to claim assistance, employment services, education benefits, grant funded services and temporary and permanent housing."

 

Freshmen lawmakers talk about the legislative session

The folks over at the Texas Tribune will be in El Paso Wednesday for coffee and conversation with the city's freshmen state lawmakers.

State Sen. Jose Rodriguez and state Reps. Naomi Gonzalez and Dee Margo will discuss  the 82nd legislative session with the Tribune from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at UTEP's Tomas Rivera Conference Center, Union Building East, Room 308.

The event is open to the public but a reservation is required. Anyone who has questions or is interested in attending should RSVP at rsvp@texastribune.org or call 512-716-8626.

 

SNL spoofs Perry flub

As Gov. Rick Perry attempted to pull off his latest GOP presidential debate performance without any major gaffes, the comedians at Saturday Night Live were spoofing his flub from earlier in the week.

Check out the video below:

 

Top 10 reasons Perry forgot

Texas Gov. Rick Perry was on the Late Show with David Letterman last night poking fun at  himself for forgetting one of the three federal agencies he would eliminate as president.

The appearance was part of a 24-hour media blitz by the Perry campaign to try to prevent eroding support.

Check out the video below:

 

10.There were three reasons why I messed up last night: 1) The nerves 2) The headache and 3) Um...Uh...Oops

9.I don't know what you're talking about -- I think things went well.

8.I was up late last night watching "Dancing With The Stars"

7.I thought the debate was tonight.

6.You try concentrating with Mitt Romney smiling at you. That is one handsome dude

5.Uh, El Nino?

4.I had a Five-Hour Energy Drink six hours before the debate

3.I really hoped it would get me on my favorite talk show, but instead, I ended up here

2.I wanted to help take the heat off my buddy Herman Cain

1.I just learned Justin Bieber is my father

Comedian Jon Stewart calls the GOP presidential race

Comedian Jon Stewart of the Daily Show declared a winner in the Republican primary race for president last night—Mitt Romney.

"I'm calling the fight, throwing the towel," said Stewart, who devoted the first part of his popular show to this week's GOP debate for president. "It's over."

Stewart pointed out that Romney has had some help in his quest to win his party's nomination for the country's highest office.

"How bad is it at this point? In our coverage of Romney's clinching debate we need not even show you highlights of Romney but merely the spontaneous combustion of his opponents," Stewart said.

Below are summaries of Stewart's breakdown of the candidates.

•Herman Cain, who is "in the middle of a scandal involving his treatment of women," called former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "Princess Nancy" during the debate. Stewart said, "There is an age above which most women do not wish to be referred to as princess and I believe that age is 5."

•On Newt Gingrich, Stewart said, "everybody loves the Pillsbury doughboy but nobody's going to vote for his angrier know-it-all brother."

•Ron Paul is "certainly capable of winning his party's nomination but the Republicans ain't his party."

•Michele Bachmann "nobody's seen her since she won the Ames, Iowa Straw Poll and stated the HPV vaccine could do irreparable harm."

 •Jon Huntsman "it's like with the Baldwins. Billy's great but, given the choice, you're going to go with Alec."

•Rick Santorum "nobody, when given the choice of Baldwins, is going with Stephen."

And, Perry...

"A comedian can spend his whole life digging through the comedy mines for soundbites he can use to sustain his family," Stewart said. "Sometimes a fellow can lose hope, and then Rick Perry gives you 53 seconds that can change a man's life. Oh Lordy, I give you this thing I found—the dope diamaond."

Check out the two videos below for more:

 

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

 

 

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Perry's forget-me-not to voters

 

Not too many people will forget that Gov. Rick Perry— reciting his standard talking points— could not remember the third agency he would eliminate during a debate Wednesday night.

It was an embarrassing gaffe for Perry, who after several attempts to recall the agency uttered "Oops".

Perry and his camp spent the morning trying to own the flub, appearing on news shows and releasing a letter to followers asking them to reply with the agency they "would most like to forget" and to consider donating $5 for each such agency to his campaign.

But for many political pundits the question has become: Can Perry survive the latest gaffe in a series of poor debate performances?

Perry's campaign hopes he can. 

Below is the email sent by the campaign this morning:

Friend & Supporter,

We’ve all had human moments. President Obama is still trying to find all 57 states. Ronald Reagan got lost somewhere on the Pacific Highway in an answer to a debate question. Gerald Ford ate a tamale without removing the husk. And tonight Rick Perry forgot the third agency he wants to eliminate. Just goes to show there are too damn many federal agencies.

The governor said it best afterwards: “I’m glad I had my boots on, because I sure stepped in it tonight.”

While the media froths over this all too human moment, we thought we would take this opportunity to ask your help in doing something much more constructive: write us to let us know what federal agency you would most like to forget.

Is it the EPA and its job-killing zealots? The NLRB and its czar-like dictates? The edu-crats at the Department of Education who aim to control your local curriculum?

Send your answer to forgetmenot@rickperry.org, and if you are on twitter join us in using a new twitter hashtag: #forgetmenot. And, if you could, throw in a $5 contribution for every agency you would like to forget. We hope you have a long list. And we promise we will write down every last idea. So we don’t forget.

Still standing in our Boots,

Team Perry

 

Former state Rep. Chávez apologizes

Former Democratic state Rep. Norma Chávez said Tuesday on Facebook that she apologized to former state Rep. Paul Moreno for getting involved in the campaign to oust him from the state House seat he held for 40 years.

Chávez helped state Rep. Marisa Marquez, D-El Paso, in her successful 2008 bid against Moreno for the Texas House District 77 seat. Moreno later joined then state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh in supporting now state Rep. Naomi Gonzalez's campaign to unseat Chávez.

Below is the post from Chávez's Facebook page 

"The greatest thing that happened yesterday, Halloween October 31, 2011 is that I had the chance to speak to Paul Moreno and apologize. Seeing him early in the evening at the L&J, I told him I was sorry that I helped Marisa Marquez in her race against him. I wrote all of her radio spots, TV scripts and rewrote or wrote 85% of her mail against him. And I was wrong. He deserved to go out the way he wanted to and he didn't get that opportunity. I had something to do with that. And low and behold, I didn't go out the way I wanted. A big boulder off my back now that I have done it, told him "I'm sorry". Two words....a blessing beyond comprehension!!"