It takes a while for the FEC to put up the list of individual donations (even longer than putting up the summary reports), so I didn’t think to check out David Dewhurst’s individual contributions until this week. One thing that jumped out at me from the report was just how many donations he got from lawyers at Fulbright & Jaworski.
Fulbright & Jaworski ranked 52 overall on the Vault list of the top 100 law firms in the U.S., and fourth in the energy sector. The Jaworksi in the name comes from Watergate prosecutor Leon Jaworski. They’re headquartered in Houston but have offices worldwide. They’re generally considered one of the three biggest law firms in Houston, the other two being Baker Botts and Vinson & Elkins.
From the FEC, here are the donations Dewhurst received from Fulbright & Jaworski employees for his senate race (presented in the same format provided by the FEC, both for authenticity, and because I’m too lazy to reformat them):
BELL, JERRY A MR JR AUSTIN TX 78701 09/27/2011 1000.00 FULBRIGHT & JAWORSKI, L.L.P./ATTOR
BODE, JOYCE R MS AUSTIN TX 78701 09/27/2011 1000.00 FULBRIGHT & JAWORSKI, L.L.P.
I actually offer this up as more of a data point than a “gotcha.” While some Fulbright & Jaworski lawyers have been involved in liberal causes (like representing detained terrorists at Guantanamo Bay), 71% of their political donations have gone to Republicans. Fulbright & Jaworski seems to have done a lot of work for Dewhurst’s company Falcon Seaboard. (The Howard Wolf listed above is actually a retired partner for Fulbright & Jaworsk, as he’s currently President and Acting Chairman of Falcon Seaboard, has been appointed to several state boards, and is one of Dewhurst’s closest confidants.) Indeed, Dewhurst’s ties to the company are so extensive that he was he was willing to do this video taking about how awesome they are:
(I was also surprised to find an old high school classmate in the same video…)
A roundup of Texas Senate Race news, some of which I would have reported sooner if my week hadn’t been so packed…
Rep. Mike McCaul passes on the race. Big news, and I think the Ted Cruz campaign is heaving a sigh of relief at not having someone as rich as David Dewhurst (but demonstrably more conservative than the Lt. Governor) in the race.
Here’s the audio for Ted Cruz’s appearance on the Mark Levin show.
Standard democratic talking points, well-spoken, but delivered in the tone of a slightly bored high school algebra teacher. Gravitas he’s got, but if this is the best he can do charisma wise, I don’t think any of the likely (or even unlikely) Republican candidates have anything to worry about. That accomplished, Sanchez seems to have gone back in hibernation for the rest of the week.
Robert T. Garrett of the The Dallas Morning News offers up a hard-hitting expose that absolutely nails Cruz…on not doing reporter’s homework for them. The upshot is that Cruz’s father was tortured by and fled the Batista regime rather than Castro’s communist regime. Did Cruz tell his story in a way that led people to believe that his father fled Castro? Yeah, he did. And that’s worth reporting. I can see doing at least a paragraph on that as part of a general article on Cruz. But it doesn’t explain why Garrett felt the need to expend 769 words explaining not that Cruz lied, but that he told an easily misinterpreted truth. Given that he hasn’t lied about anything, and has told the precise story forthrightly upon being questioned about it, it’s hard for me to work up any indignation about people misconstruing one part of a candidate’s father’s history.
Curt Cleaver raised $3,208, which is respectable for a longshot, especially considering his late start. (Psst, Curt, handy campaign tip: It actually costs you nothing to update your Facebook and Twitter pages more than once a month…)
Andrew Castanuela has raised $1,503. Coming up the rear is Beetlebaum Stanley Garza with $200…of which he’s spent $199. Got to save up for that big ad blitz…
Moammar Gadhafi, that is, in the Libyan city of Sirte. Although there are conflicting reports that he was only wounded, but this (graphic) video from the Telegraph shows someone who looks: A.) An awful lot like Gadhafi, and B.) An awful lot like dead.
Also reported dead: Moammar Gadhafi, Muammar el-Qaddafi, Moammar Kadafi, Muammar Gaddafi, Muammar Gadafy, Moammar Gaddafi, and Moammar Khaddafy.
According to the BBC, he was founding hiding in a drainage pipe, much like Saddam Hussein was pulled from his spider hole.
This is good news for Libya, for the United States, and the world. Now if we can just keep Jihadests from taking over in Tripoli, Obama will have an actual foreign policy accomplishment on his resume.
The MSM seems to have noticed that the Mexican cartels employee heavily armed paramilitary units, which anyone following the story on blogs would have known for, oh, at least a year.
The Telegraph’s live newsfeed reports that rioting has spread to “Birmingham, West Bromwich, Manchester, Wolverhampton and Salford.”
And here’s audio of two drunk female rioters describing the “good times” they had burning things and drinking stolen wine. “It’s the government’s fault!” “Yeah, conservatives.” It’s hard for me to tell if this is real, or a parody of mindless British underclass hooligans.
Now some videos from the riots. Cheerful looters hauling away goods:
Rioters attacked outnumbered police in Tottingham:
Croyden on fire:
Cars and shops on fire in Lewisham and Hackney:
More rioters looting, and the police response:
Very recent footage of looted shops tonight on Woolwich High Street:
Here’s the video edit of my interview with Ted Cruz (click for a larger version on YouTube):
(I think I should have sucked in my gut more.)
After the interview, Cruz said that he reads the blog (which I believe, as I’ve interacted with several members of his campaign who read the blog over the past few months). I said that I started covering the race so closely mainly because the MSM was doing such a poor job of it. He agreed, and said that people wouldn’t start paying attention until the last week. I think he’s right.
Honestly, I have no real issue or ideological concerns with Cruz. If elected, I think he would easily be the best senator Texas has had since Phil Gramm. I do have some small minor concerns with him as a candidate (see this post for some context on the below points). A lot of the things I quibble over is Cruz following standard “How to Campaign 101.” However, I think they may not work as well as in the past for this year, and this particular race.
Frequently Cruz would take the question as asked and segue into one of his talking points, sometimes smoothly, sometimes not. I believe Cruz is right, that the general public is only paying attention to the race in the last week. But this is going to be a long campaign, and I believe Cruz is a bit too “on message” for this stage of the campaign. This part of the campaign, in addition to building a campaign infrastructure and raising money, is to convince Tea Party and Republican Party stalwarts that you’re their guy. Among the Tea Party especially, there’s a certain wariness with politicians being too slick and too programmed. In addition to conservative positions and record (which Cruz has in spades), I think Tea Party patriots are looking for genuine authenticity and sincerity. (“Sincerity – if you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” —George Burns). I think that’s a big reason Glenn Addison won the straw poll at the more recent forum. Cruz is a very good off-the-cuff speaker, and I think he needs a bit less scripting and a bit more continuity at this stage of the campaign.
I gave Cruz the opportunity to criticize his rival candidates and he declined, bringing the question around to his Proven Conservative bit. This is also standard practice: Let the candidate take the high road and let proxies and allies handle the attacks. But I’m not sure that wisdom holds anymore, especially in Texas. Rick Perry went negative early, hard and often on Kay Baily Hutchison, and it didn’t hurt his chances at all. I think the Tea Party is looking for a fighter, and don’t think it would hurt Cruz to engage Dewhurst and Leppert on their respective conservative records (or lack thereof) early and often.
Again, keep in mind this is coming from someone who’s observing Cruz more closely than 99.9% of primary voters ever will. I think Cruz is still far and away the candidate that most closely fits William F. Buckley’s definition of who people should vote for, namely “the most conservative viable candidate.”
Thanks again to Ted Cruz (and his campaign) for allowing me the opportunity to interview him.
I have a longer audio version of this interview, covering more topics, I hope to put up later this week
Randall Munroe, the guy who does XKCD has an interesting post up on the possibility that the current Mississippi flood may overwhelm the Old River Control Structure that keeps the river from shifting course to the Atchafalaya, as I discussed last week.
And continuing the Peter Gabriel kick from my other blog, here’s a young Peter Gabriel doing “Here Comes the Flood” on the Kate Bush Christmas Special circa 1979:
In other news, there was a Kate Bush Christmas Special…