(Reporting on the Burnt Orange... - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
With one merciless swipe of the pen, the Cactus Cafe was crossed out from the ledgers of the University of Texas and music forever. Or at least that's what UT President William C. Powers, UT Student Government President Liam O'Rourke, and Texas Union Executive Director Andy Smith wished happened.
I'm Zach Bidner, I'm a UT senior, and I want to tell you about the Cactus Cafe.
The Cactus Cafe is located in the Texas Union on the UT campus, and it is the only bar on campus. Moreover, the Cactus Cafe is the mecca of musical fulfillment for UT students, UT alumni, and Austinites for generations over. It is the place where nascent musicians are born and the old hands recharge themselves. Texas favorites like Lyle Lovett have cut their teeth on the Cactus stage, and as stars, they get lured back by the special intimacy of the place.
When I walk through the Union after class, I cross the monotone desert of Starbucks, Wendy's, and Taco Bell before I reach the Cactus Cafe, my oasis for authenticity. At the Cactus, singer-songwriter Butch Hancock has performed at such a personal level, that I could have sworn it was just the two of us in the room. I've also sung-a-long with the band Jackopierce and 150 fellow fans at the show.
On Friday, January 29th, the Texas Union Board, including SG President O'Rourke and Union Director Smith, recommended to President Powers that the Cactus Cafe should be shut down to reduce the Union budget. At a town hall meeting the following Tuesday, President Powers was beseeched by hordes of students, alumni, and Austinites to save the Cactus Cafe, some even offering donations to fill the budget gap. He repeatedly removed himself from responsibility by attributing the decision to the Union Board. Make no mistake, the onus is on President Powers. The board is merely advisory, and President Powers has the authority to accept or reject any of its recommendations.
Shortly after the meeting, O'Rourke issued a statement defending the cuts. He wrote that he understands the importance of the Cactus Cafe, but that compared to other options to reduce the Union budget, his priorities lie with maintaining operating hours and continuing to fund the Student Events Center. The Student Events Center is a branch of the Union whose website proudly announces events like movie nights, such as the Time Traveler's Wife, and open helium tank usage for campus groups!
On Saturday February 6th, a large group of concerned citizens, including many students like myself, formed an organization to restore the Cactus Cafe (our website is www.savethecactuscafe.org). Sensing our momentum, O'Rourke is already eating his words. Interviewed by KTBC on Saturday, he explained that his statement was misunderstood: the Cactus will not be closing; instead, students will replace the current, professional management. This is by no means a victory. I'm a student but I sure don't trust my peers to book quality acts.
Our organization has outlined a plan to save the Cactus Cafe while increasing student involvement. A non-profit support organization will be formed to raise funds and provide long-term financial support for the Cactus Cafe. An initiative will provide students with funded internships in the business and technical areas of club operation, working under the wing of the current, knowledgeable club staff. A Student-Artists in Residence program will also fund a number of students to play at the Cactus. Our organization is eager to cooperate with UT leadership, but so far UT leadership has ignored us.
Powers, O'Rourke, and Smith thought they could write this one off the books, but shutting down the Cactus is not like closing the doors of just any campus recital hall-especially without consulting the UT student body or general public before making the decision. The Cactus Cafe is too historic, too intimate, and too genuine a place to let go of.
As we did with the Republican debates, we will be liveblogging the Texas Democratic gubernatorial debate tonight. You can follow along with our liveblog here.
Additionally, the Bill White campaign has asked that we join in the conversation with them, so you can also follow along at Bill White's website, at http://www.billwhitefortexas.com/txdebate.html
Amid the distractions of TV ad launches, Republican nonsense, and absurd negative attacks, the Bill White campaign has continued steamrolling along with an impressive ground operation. Running a real statewide campaign, White and his staff are blanketing Texas with offices, endorsements, and packed days on the trail.
Here are just some of the facts about what the Bill White campaign has been up to in the 67 days since he declared for the Governor's race:
Ground Game
Attracted thousands of volunteers and more than 7,000 donors.
Opened nine regional field offices and many more "offices" because, as Bill likes to say, "If you have a phone or a computer, you have an office."
Fundraising
$6.4 million in the bank as of Jan. 21, close of last reporting period.
In the first three weeks of January, Bill White raised more money and spent much less than either Perry or Hutchison during the same period.
In the 28 days after White's Dec. 4 announcement for governor, supporters responded with more than $2.5 million, for an average fundraising rate of over $90,000 per day.
White has also been endorsed by all 12 Democratic State Senators, and 66 Democratic Legislators. He also has the highest percentage of likely voters who view him "very favorably" among all candidates for governor, including Rick Perry.
With the strong Statesman endorsement, ongoing TV ads, and televised debate tonight, voters across Texas are beginning to have a serious opportunity to consider Bill White, look at his record, and think about who offers real solutions for the challenges facing Texas. As Burnt Orange Report has repeatedly pointed out, only White seems to be offering real solutions to the problems we're facing with education, the economy, and the environment, coupled with the experience to actually implement them.
What will remain to be seen is if the Bill White campaign--should he prevail March 2nd--remains this active between the primary and general. Looking at the 2008 election cycle, it was the late primaries in North Carolina and Indiana that enabled the Obama campaign to flip the states come November. The staff largely stayed in place, on the ground, continuing their organization all the way to the finish line.
Texas has the opportunity to have a real showdown this November, with voters making a distinct choice about the future of our state. I'm optimistic that if Bill White is the Democratic nominee, he'll be willing to campaign all the way to the finish line, and give Texas voters a real opportunity to move our state forward.
White also brings a low-key, thoughtful approach that seems like just what Texas needs now. There's nothing like high-decibel rhetoric to get folks excited around election time. But today's problems — education, transportation, health care, jobs, a massive projected state budget shortfall, etc. — are best solved by thoughtful deliberation, not overheated rhetoric.
It's also not the time or place for know-it-all politicians who think they have all the solutions and can single-handedly put them in place.
[...]
We also find something comforting and confidence-inspiring in the sort of anti-charisma that White exudes. It's so, well, grown-up. It's also devoid of the unattractive overconfidence that many of today's politicians harbor as they promise us no-cost solutions to all of our high-dollar problems.
Your hardworking Texas DNC delegation was snowed under this weekend in the nation's Capitol. Approximately two feet of snow is on the ground and there's more coming on Tuesday. With that in mind, here's a brief summary of what we've been up to.
On Friday morning, President Obama gave a rousing speech focused on the Administration's accomplishments and the challenges of 2010. The President reminded us that the economy was even worse than he'd expected when he took office and that it's natural for folks to be impatient for change. Americans are obviously frustrated and they're looking to the party in power to fix things. The President noted that as Americans we've been through more difficult periods, but now isn't the time to talk about how hard things are, now is the time for action. President Obama received his best applause when stating that he will not walk away from health insurance reform.
I was reminded again that Barack Obama is truly the best campaigner in America; I've never seen someone own a room like him, not even Bill Clinton. While the President's poll numbers are down a bit, he remains personally popular and I have no doubt that Democrats will fare better than expected in November in part due to the President's ability to campaign and motivate the base.
DNC Chair Tim Kaine had the tough task, of speaking immediately after President Obama, but Gov. Kaine delivered a solid speech assessing the current landscape and laying out the party's blueprint for the mid-term election.
Gov. Kaine compared losing Ted Kennedy's seat to the Ghost of Christmas Future from A Christmas Carol. Scrooge gets a glimpse of his future, realizes it's awful and asks the ghost if the future is preordained or if Scrooge can change what happens. It's Scrooge's wake up moment. Well, for Democrats, we've seen what the future could be and fortunately we have time to change course.
That being said, Gov. Kaine noted that in the last 17 mid-term elections, the President's party has lost an average of 28 House seats and 4 Senate Seats. The party's goal is to beat the average. The good news is that Democrats are playing strong offense in a number of states, especially in Governor's races, and the GOP remains a divided party.
Gov. Kaine laid out a three point plan for the November election.
1. Focus on surge voters, the approximately 15 million first time, young or non-traditional voters who turned out for Barack Obama in 2008.
Gov. Kaine used Colorado (where I worked for Obama) as an example. The DNC's Colorado voter file has 456,000 Democratic surge voters. Normally about 40% of those people would vote in the mid-term. With extra attention, communication and targeting, it's possible to increase turnout among these voters to 48% or even 50%. That would mean about 40,000 votes...or enough to win a close election statewide.
2. Increase voter registration and set up a national voter registration website. We all know that Democrats do better when more people vote, so the party will work hard to make sure every eligible voter is registered.
3. Invest resources in building up energy and excitement among base voters. That's where the President will be most important. He's hugely popular and the biggest draw in American politics.
After President Obama and Governor Kaine spoke, you could feel a sense of greater optimism among the assembled party brass. Yes, there are some handwringers in DC who are worried that Democrats will get wiped out in November. But even those doubters acknowledge the capabilities of President Obama, the DNC, and Democratic candidates throughout America. The party in power may not be as well-liked as it was 12 months ago, but when it comes time for the election to heat up our side will have the best campaigner in America stumping throughout the nation. Remember, the valleys are never that low and the mountains are never that high.
The University Democrats (UDems) and the Central Austin Democrats (CAD) got together today for their endorsement meeting. Most of the candidates in contested Democratic races showed up, along with some other Democrats without contested primaries. Together, they form the Austin Progressive Coalition (APC), which endorses candidates when the two groups concur on a particular race.
Disclosure: I am an officer with the University Democrats.
The following are the endorsements, with a few comments below.
Justice of the Peace, Pct. 5 UDems: Herb Evans (no website found)
CAD: Herb Evans
**Herb Evans wins the APC endorsement.**
---
The Austin Progressive Coalition will combine efforts to make door hangers for the candidates the two groups endorsed. Block walks are scheduled for each of the three Saturdays after today. So, the APC endorsements could make a significant difference in the close races, such as the County Commissioner's race.
In that race, actually, Raul Alvarez continues to pull out close victories in club endorsements. I can count today's combined margin of victories for him on one hand. But now he has many clubs putting out his name, and that will make it one of the races to watch on primary night.
Beyond that, there really were no surprises. Last week, KT noted that the Austin Democratic Machine is still figuring out where it stands in the 299th District Court race. She's become a pretty good friend of the University Democrats, though, and I imagine my group will be out block walking for her in the likely event of a runoff.
KT mentioned that the Machine doesn't seem to care about the Lieutenant Governor's race but in reality there just seemed to be a lot of strong support for both Ronnie Earle and Linda Chavez-Thompson in both groups, resulting in this split endorsement. (It makes sense, too, that the college club is the one to break away from Earle, as many of us weren't in Travis County to watch Earle's District Attorney leadership.)
For Justice of the Peace, Pct. 1, Yvonne Williams is still winning a majority of endorsements, but Daniel Bradford is picking up the young crowd.
And Farouk Shami had virtually no support. Bill White received every single vote with the University Democrats, and Shami may be able to say he had one with the Central Austin Democrats. Paraphrasing what someone said after the endorsements, even with some folks that may have felt sympathetic to Shami, "We can be realists from time to time."
Tomorrow, Bill White will spend an entire day in Central Texas, attending:
The Coalition of Black Democrats State Convention at the St. James Baptist Church
A Sun City Democrats Meeting
The Williamson County Volunteer Kickoff at the the County's Party Headquarters
The UT Democrats and Central Austin Democrats Endorsement Meeting
The Texas AFL-CIO Convention
The LULAC Candidate Forum
"Cafe on the Square" -- A meet and greet with Patrick Rose in San Marcos
Bill White is running an incredible statewide campaign -- tomorrow's intense schedule is a daily reality for his campaign, and as he travels across the state, he's talking about education, restoring government to the people, and the need to balance a budget. It's a terrific message delivered by a campaign that raised more money than either Perry or Hutchison in January.
No matter how you slice it, Bill White is running an incredible campaign, and is a serious, serious threat to Rick Perry in the fall.
This past week, they have featured Bill White and Farouk Shami in a compelling set of stories that, when read together, provide tremendous insight and allow the reader to develop a strong side-by-side comparison of the two candidates.
The series is quite remarkable. If you put it aside this week, or just missed it, or especially if you are in the majority of our readership that live outside Austin, please click on the links above and read the articles in full to get the full side-by-side comparison of the candidates.
One month ago today, I praised the filing day coverage of the Dallas Morning News as "Incredible Journalism." At the time, I wrote:
The Dallas Morning News, without question, has shown up for the 2010 election season with the best political coverage in the state. Between now and the primary, everyone else is playing catch up. They laid the gauntlet down on Day One, and it's going to take some seriously impressive efforts from other news organizations to match what the DMN has put forth on their first day.
Today marks the start of the second month of the 2010 campaign season in Texas. The Morning News may have thrown the gauntlet down, but right now it's the Statesman that is delivering the strongest coverage. Between the Gubernatorial Profile series and their excellent new PolitFact feature, they are doing tremendous with with this election cycle, and I look forward to more of it in the coming days, weeks, and months.
On our end, more on the Governor's race is forthcoming as we prepare for Monday's gubernatorial debate. For now, though, here are some highlights of the Statesman series -- for those looking to glimpse the key parts of each particular section:
White developed an interest in government, sparked in part, he says, by "the horrors of Selma and Birmingham and the awakening of the civil rights movement."
"That interested me, engaged me, when I saw that laws could make a difference," he said, "and where there was a stark choice between some who felt we needed to defer making good on the promises made in our founding documents and others who thought, as did my parents ... that every person is made in the image of God."
In 1955, some of Farouk's brothers and cousins were playing with a bomb left behind after a battle between Israelis and the Jordanian army near the family's house. It exploded. Three of his brothers and two of his cousins were killed.
"It's hard to remember it," he says softly. "I saw my brothers torn into pieces."
He was 12. With the loss of Faheem, 11, Kareem, 10, and Haleem, 7, six brothers became three. After that, everything changed. Jamil Shami said that from that moment, he and Farouk were driven to succeed as a way of compensating their parents for what was lost. And because of the violent incident, the family moved into the city of Ramallah. The Friends School offered Farouk and Jamil scholarships. "It was a disaster, but I was fortunate to go to the best school in the country," Farouk Shami said. "There's always an opportunity in a disaster."
White's career in the upper echelons of law, business and government gives him a perspective that influences his approach to everything from problem-solving (identify solutions, delegate tasks, hold people accountable and change course as needed) to his meetings with the oil executives.
"I believed senior management wanted to be good neighbors and citizens," White said. "They don't want to be treated differently than their competitor, and they want some predictability, and they are all concerned about the image of their industry."
Since the 1990s, Shami's company has been involved in more than 80 lawsuits, according to district and federal court records available online.
The lawsuits, which range from dissolved partnerships to trademark and contractual disputes to sexual harassment claims, mark the challenges Shami has encountered in his climb to become founder and head of Farouk Systems Inc., which sells the popular CHI hair-straightening iron and BioSilk hair care line. Its executives say the privately held company is valued at $1 billion and employs 2,800 people. [...]
In one month, Shami remembers getting a legal bill for $500,000. But generally, he estimates legal bills at close to $1 million annually. Shami said his company has many outside lawyers and an internal legal department, though he couldn't say how many people work there.
"I have plenty of them, plenty of them," Shami said, laughing. "You can't do business without lawyers now."
A cyclist who loves the outdoors, White sometimes wears an athletic-style watch even when he's in a suit. He shows personality with patterned or colorful ties, but his suits tend to be so big that he looks like someone who lost weight but has hung on to his old clothes.
White's appearance gives the impression that he's too busy worrying about business to fuss over his clothes. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, he wore pocketed khaki shirts that made him look like a safari tour guide.
But at a time when the task at hand was managing the influx of more than 200,000 refugees — work that earned White a John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award — it was no time for him to start looking like a movie star.
With his slicked-back hair, impeccably tailored suits and paisley ties, Shami cuts a contrast to the ho-hum, button-down-shirt-and-jeans uniform favored by Austin Democrats. This is a man who is not afraid to wear pinstripes, prints or vibrant reds, purples and yellows, and he hasn't toned down his clothes for the campaign. [...]
Shami sees himself as something of a ladies' man. He's tried flattering female reporters by telling them they look like teenagers, and he has said he expects to do better with female voters because they have more sense.
"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will." — Frederick Douglass
Today, Rep. Coleman sent out an e-mail celebrating the one-year authorization of SCHIP reauthorization. With all the attention on what President Obama and Congress has done (and hasn't done) the last year, it is easy to lose sight of the real work that was accomplished with the election of a Democrat to the White House.
Rep. Coleman (who I had the privilege to work for during the 80th Regular Session in 2007) has never lost sight of the real work, and his e-mail today reminds us of how important re-authorizing CHIP was, especially for a state like Texas. From his e-mail:
Today marks the first anniversary of President Obama's reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The expansion of the program was crucial to providing health insurance to children from working families, and is expected to cut the number of uninsured children in our country by half in the coming years.
The reauthorization of the program was one of President Obama's first orders of business upon taking office and was particularly meaningful after President George W. Bush twice vetoed similar legislation. President Obama called the expansion a down payment on quality, affordable health care for all Americans.
In Texas, 495,781 children rely on CHIP to access health care. January was the only month that Texas' enrollment levels exceeded 500,000 since 2003, when Republican lawmakers instituted enrollment barriers that purged hundreds of thousands of eligible children from the program. The federal government gives Texas $2.52 for every $1 we invest in the program.
During the 81st Legislative Session, I authored legislation to increase enrollment in and public awareness of CHIP. My bill would have insured an estimated 80,000 Texas children from working families by allowing their parents to buy in to the program. Despite bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate, political action by the Governor, conservative Republicans, and Senate leaders caused this bill to die in a Senate committee. As one of the original authors of CHIP in Texas, I will continue to work to eliminate the red tape that keeps eligible children from receiving health care.
Today, we have 495,781 reasons to thank President Obama.
Rep. Coleman, as he notes, was one of the original authors of CHIP in Texas. Since then, he has championed it at every step of the way -- crafting legislation and drafting amendments for legislation to restore the devastating cuts and policies enacted by Rick Perry, David Dewhurst, and Texas Republicans in 2003. As he (and all of us) give thanks today to President Obama for his leadership on this issue, let's remember to thank our leaders in Texas, too.
Before reading any further, read KT's great post, Attention Democrats: Farouk Shami Can't Win in November. Now, this isn't going to be a rehashing of KT's greater points about polls or advertising. Instead, we are going to talk about hypocrisy and broken promises.
Rather than agreeing with the Farouk Shami of yesterday, I want to agree with the Shami campaign of December 4:
White can't even muster enough points in the pool to defeat Debra Medina, the darling of the Tea Party movement in Texas. Medina struggles to get 16% support in the Republican polls, but still bests the establishment-anointed "Democratic Frontrunner" Bill White. Medina now edges White 41% to 38%. Last month, White had a 44% to 38% lead on her. While the Democratic Party establishment focuses on a career politician, Farouk Shami has been gaining support among rank-and-file Democratic Primary voters across the state.
"It is time to end politics as usual. This poll is proof positive that the Texas Democratic establishment couldn't lead a silent prayer, much less designate our party's standard bearer," Farouk Shami said when he saw these results.
[...]
"We need real courage, real leadership and a candidate that's out there listening to the voters, not pandering to donors and reciting tired talking points. That's the kind of campaign Farouk Shami is running. We look forward to a healthy debate on February 8," Vince Leibowitz, Campaign Director added.
Again, KT already took on most of these claims. I wanted to highlight one important part:
It is time to end the game of politics as usual. On that, I completely agree. The nasty, negative campaigning hurts the party and does nothing to solve real problems in Texas. Perry has been in elected office for a quarter century; Kay Bailey Hutchison for two decades. Bill White has been a politician for 6 years. Again, I agree with Shami that we should end the era of career politicians in Texas, but White's 6 years as Mayor, does not a career politician make.
Bill White "very favorables" are stronger than any other candidate.
Only 16% of voters "strongly approve" of RP job performance.
White has strength among women.
If Texas Democrats want to win, we have to get serious and this kind of ridiculous attack on a fellow Democrat does not move us forward. It's the kind of tactic you see from a desperate campaign in the final throes.
Shami and every other candidate needs to make a case for why they are the best person for the job. A negative narrative doesn't work if it doesn't have a positive to counter-balance it. Shami is in the tall grass with no public poll, a message that fails to resonate with any voters, a complete lack of experience in governing, and now his only message appears to be an anti-party, anti-White commentary.
Here's hoping that Farouk Shami and his Campaign Director, Vince Leibowitz, follow their own advice and end politics as usual. Let's have a discussion. Let's have a debate. But let's not blast out foolish press releases that reek of hypocrisy and the worst kind of politics.
P.S. If you advocate for new ideas, then don't recycle the same old lines about the Democratic party not being able to lead a silent prayer.
