Six unique residents of Tarrant County today filed a request with District Attorney Tim Curry seeking a criminal investigation of the early-morning robo-calling that may have impacted the outcome of the special election for House District 97.

Signators included two former Reps,. Anna Mowery and Bob Leonard along with current Rep. Charlie Geren. Two former Tarrant County Republican Party Chairmen, Stephen W. Hollern, Sr and Warren C. Russell also joined in the complaint. Finally, Benbrook city councilman and HD97 special election candidate John Schull signed.

Gov. Rick Perry chose Dec. 18 for a runoff election for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives, rejecting a request by Tarrant County election officials.

Seriously, a team of monkeys with darts could have selected a better election date.

This is like a sequel to last year’s bad runoff election date set by Perry. In 2006, he set the Bonilla/Rodriguez runoff in Congressional District 23 for the festival of the Virgin of Guadalupe. This year, he’s picked a date that’s way too close to Christmas. Oh, and he decided to disregard other election dates, and the wishes of county officials in setting a date that will no doubt result in the most depressed voter turnout in special election history in this state:

The Fort Worth City Council set Dec. 11 as the date for its District 9 runoff more than a month ago. County election officials had asked Perry to schedule a runoff for the House District 97 race on the same day to save taxpayer money and simplify matters for voters, some of whom live in both districts.

That makes sense. Of course, not to Perry, who must have left most of his common sense in Iowa or some damned place as he’s been pimpin’ all over the world for Rudolph Giuliani.

Naturally, though, simply being absented minded or failing to locate and read a calender doesn’t come in to play here. Perry’s motivation for selecting this date is purely political:

“We worked closely with the city and the county to determine a permissible election day to allow adequate time for the campaigns to rev back up and educate voters on the candidates who were running,” said Krista Moody, a spokeswoman for Perry.

“Adequate time for the campaigns to rev back up?” When has the Governor’s office ever taken that into consideration? The reason Perry has taken it into consideration this time is because it appears that he could actually be in danger of losing another House seat before the 2008 cycle begins. He recognizes that there is a lack of statewide GOP attention on House District 97 right now because his party’s establishment is taking for granted that the seat is a “gimmie” and because time is needed to make sure Bob Perry, James Leininger and other high-dollar GOP contributors can dust off their Mont Blanc’s and write fat-ass checks–appropriately sheltered and washed through whatever PAC is handy at the moment.

“Unlike his opponent, Dan Barrett opposes taking money away from public schools to fund private school tuition vouchers,” said Ellen Jones of Euless, a Texas Parent PAC board member. “Barrett understands that Texas taxpayers cannot afford to subsidize private schooling through voucher schemes. Our limited state and local funds must be used to strengthen public schools in every neighborhood so children can succeed academically and their communities and families prosper.”

I’m glad to see Barrett get the Parent PAC endorsement. Clearly, we don’t need another voucher advocate in the House clinging to James Leininger’s leg like a shy three-year-old.

Technorati Tags Dan Barrett

More from Trautman’s press release:

When asked why she decided on the topic for this meeting, Trautman replied, “We hear too much about what is wrong with our public schools today or how to fix them, and sometimes it even seems that public schools and teachers are under attack by the very people in Austin who should be going to bat for us. I want to get the good news out about our schools and our students.”

This was the sixth town hall meeting sponsored by Trautman in the last six months to listen to community concerns and provide interesting speakers for area residents. The title for this meeting was “What’s Right with Public Education” and included special guest speaker, Susan Kellner of Raise Your Hand Texas, an advocacy group for public education. Other speakers included local teachers, Karen Rodriguez, teacher of the year for North Belt Elementary, Patricia Pinkley, technology teacher at Kingwood Park High School, and Dr. Diane Trautman, assistant professor of education for Stephen F. Austin State University.

Technorati Tags Diane Trautman, HD 127, Joe Crabb

General Wesley K. Clark noted State Representative Noriega’s military experience and legislative accomplishments as grounds for his support.

“At a time when we are facing increasingly serious foreign policy and national security challenges, while needing to repair this Administration’s assault on the Constitution, Lieutenant Colonel Noriega’s leadership and knowledge will be of paramount importance,” Clark said. “I am excited that Rick Noriega has, once again, answered the call to serve.”

Rick Noriega is a state Representative from Houston and a Lieutenant Colonel in the Texas National Guard who served a tour of duty in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. He joined the Army in 1979 in response to the Iranian Hostage Crisis. Since 2005, Lt. Col. Noriega served as Laredo Border Sector Commander in Operation Jump Start and as the Incident Commander at the George R. Brown Convention Center for evacuees to Houston in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

“Veterans Day is next week, and I can think of no greater way to honor those who have served our country abroad than to support a fellow veteran’s bid to serve our country in the United States Senate. Rick Noriega’s background as a military man for nearly three decades will provide a vital perspective and fill a needed gap among our leaders as they work to rebuild international alliances and confront the many obstacles to peace and prosperity here, and around the world,” Clark added.

In his five terms in the Texas Legislature, Representative Noriega has committed himself to education, health care, veterans’ issues, and to ensuring that all Texans have the opportunity to succeed. During the 2007 legislative session, Rep. Noriega helped stop several partisan bills that would have eroded Texans’ voting rights.

“General Clark’s support underscores our nation’s need for leaders who have first-hand experience to deal with problems around the world,” Noriega said.

Wes Clark is a retired four-star General in the United States Army. He served all over the world, culminating in his role as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander. In that position, General Clark successfully commanded all NATO forces in the Kosovo conflict, sparing 1.5 million Albanians from ethnic cleansing without a single Allied casualty, as he was responsible for peacekeeping operations in Bosnia.

Since running for the Democratic nomination for President in 2004, Clark became a senior fellow at the Burkle Center for International Relations at UCLA’s International Institute, and currently serves on the boards of a wide range of non-profit public service organizations. A Rhodes Scholar and graduate of the United States Military Academy (West Point), as well as the Ranger and Airborne schools, Clark is the author of Waging Modern War: Bosnia, Kosovo and the Future of Combat and Winning Modern War: Iraq, Terrorism and the American Empire.

In 2004, Wes Clark founded WesPAC “on the belief that a truly secure America demands sound, wise leadership and a renewed commitment to the values that have made our nation great: service, integrity, and accountability.” Among WesPAC’s primary goals is electing “Democrats to the White House and Congress in order to implement new policies that will restore our nation’s security and prosperity, comprehensively address the threats facing America and our allies while respecting civil liberties, and replace the current unwise policies established by this Republican Administration and Congress.”

Rep. Noriega is seeking the seat of Texas’ one-term junior Senator, John Cornyn. He lives in Houston with his wife, Melissa, who was reelected Tuesday to the Houston City Council, and their two sons.

Tags: Rick+Noriega, General+Wesley+Clark, Wes+Clark, WesPAC

Technorati Tags General Wesley Clark, Rick Noriega, Wes Clark, WesPAC

The largest bond, an $807 million dollar proposal in Cypress-Fairbanks ISD near Houston, passed.

A spreadsheet with the results is below the jump.

Tags: Texas+ISD+Bonds

Technorati Tags Texas ISD Bonds

Brazos County’s $55 million jail bond proposal (100% reported) For: 63.49% (3969)     Against: 36.51% (2282)

Tags: Brazos+County+Jail+Bond

Technorati Tags Brazos County Jail Bond

Technorati Tags Dan+Barrett

Tags: Smith+County+Jail+Bond

Technorati Tags 2007 Elections, Smith County Jail Bond

With all but a handful of Dallas precincts counted late Tuesday, a ballot measure to kill the high-speed highway inside the Trinity River levees was losing by a 53-47 margin.

The vote means the city’s Trinity River project, an ambitious plan to transform the barren river corridor, will proceed as planned. In addition to the higwhway, the project includes increased flood protection, a downtown park and other recreational amenities.

Proposition 1 would have forbidden construction of any road inside the river levees unless that road were four or fewer lanes, had a speed limit of 35 mph or less, and provided direct access to the riverside park.

That was probably the biggest issue on the Metroplex ballot.

Technorati Tags Trinity River Toll Road

Technorati Tags Crawford ISD, Crawford Texas

In a race between one-time political allies, Alamo Mayor Rudy Villarreal won re-election, beating challenger Robert De La Garza for his sixth term as mayor.

Technorati Tags Alamo, Robert De La Garza, Rudy Villarreal

Technorati Tags Midland Mayor, Wes Perry