Debts of Gratitude: John Courage

by: Karl-Thomas Musselman

Mon Jun 08, 2009 at 06:04 PM CDT

John has a long and deep relationship with many of us here at Burnt Orange Report, starting with a personal friendship that pre-dates this blog's existence when he ran for Congress in the 21st District in 2002. That was right after the first round of redistricting after the census, when I was still in high school in Fredericksburg which was in the old 21st. John was the very first campaign I did anything for, manning his campaign booth at our county fair, and handing out literature at the polls on election day.

He ran again in 2006. That was under the new re-redistricted map, which actually made the 21st competitive as it had moved into Austin. But the Supreme Court reviewed it, and in order to correct injustices done to Hispanics on the border, made the 21st more Republican in the middle of an election. Matt was running that campaign, and rather than him or John quitting, they stayed on and directed their resources to helping down ballot which had the added effect of helping Valinda Bolton become a state rep instead.

John had been a Netroots candidate, with support from the blogs, Democracy for America, and Russ Feingold's PAC. He was one of the early and first examples of the growing force of the online progressive movement in Texas. Even after losing, he went on to form the True Courage Action Network which worked for good government, redistricting, and campaign finance reforms in the 2007 session.

He gave back and supported his friends. And even after all this time, hasn't forgotten sending out the rare email of support for an out of state candidate- Russ Feingold who is now up for re-election.

Friends and fellow Democrats,

Many of you have been great supporters of my 2002 & 2006 campaigns for the U.S. Congress and I will always be grateful for your support. Some of you may also know I have been and remain a strong supporter of other local and state Democratic Party activities and candidates. I rarely advocate sending our people and resources (especially financial resources) to out of state to support other candidates (an exception being the Barack Obama campaign). However I am going to recommend to you and to your fellow Democratic Party friends that you consider making a contribution to the re-election of a great Democratic Senator, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. Russ personally supported my 2006 campaign for Congress and came to Texas to help me.

I will always remember his kindness and support and want to do what I can to return the confidence he showed in me.

Russ is running for re-election and I don't know how tough his re-election race may be, but he is truly one of the progressive Democratic leaders in the U.S. Senate. Listed below are just a few of the things people have said about Russ Feingold's leadership in the Senate over the recent past. I hope you will read these statements and then join me in making as substantial a contribution as you can to his re-election campaign.

You can go to the following link to make an online contribution. I would ask you to add .21 cents to your contribution to let to let the Senator's staff know that your contribution has come from my efforts as a former candidate for the Texas 21st Congressional District. Contribute to the Russ Feingold Campaign .

Democratically yours,
John Courage

If you want to give a small amount, say $10.21 (in remembrance of the 21st District Race Sen. Feingold helped John out in 4 years ago), that's cool.

But what's cooler is John Courage for remembering his friends and pointing out once more why we always supported him. Politics is a better place because of people like you.

John Courage supports Frances Carnot for State Rep. District 122

by: JCourage

Sat Jun 14, 2008 at 10:49 AM CDT

Friends and Fellow Democrats,

Frances Carnot needs our support and our help in her bid to unseat Frank Corte in State Rep. District. 122. Frances is a smart, articulate, and committed women dedicated to ridding the Texas Legislature of the useless menace of Frank Corte.

If you are a women, then Frank Corte is your public enemy number 1. He has singlehandedly done more to undermine women’s healthcare and women’s rights in the Texas Legislature over the last ten years than any other legislator in Austin.

If you are a parent of a public school student, he has consistently undermined public education and supported redirecting public education funding to private and religious institutions.

If you are paying high insurance fees, that is because Frank Corte is a ‘Best Friend’ of the insurance lobby!

If you are out of work or under employed and need extra help with providing healthcare for your family, don’t look to Frank Corte for that help, as he has turned a cold shoulder to the senior citizens and children of Texas when it comes to providing adequate healthcare in Texas. He is one of the reasons Texas is last in the nation for providing healthcare for our children.

Public Financing Resolution at your precinct convention

by: JCourage

Tue Jan 22, 2008 at 10:42 PM CST

The effort to place this item on the Democratic Primary ballot as a question Democrats around the state could have expressed their preference on was stymied at the SDEC January meeting, so the proponents are going to work with local Democratic Parties and Clubs and other progressive organizations to bring the issue before the Party through the primary precinct convention system.

This is a very significant issue at this time. Possibly the most significant issue facing Texas voters and voters across this country today. No other issue such as Universal Healthcare, social justic issues, environmental justice issues, ending the war in Iraq or protecting american jobs and economic equality will ever get a fair shot as long as Big Money, special interests, private interests and corporate America control the campaign purse strings of elected officials from Austin to Washington.
Publicly Financed Elections is a proven program for putting the electoral process and conversely the legislative process back into the hands of the voters and citizens.

For a copy of the petition go to the TCAN websit through this link: http://www.truecourageaction.net

John Courage

The Tom Craddick Democratic Party?

by: David Van Os

Sun Jan 13, 2008 at 01:45 PM CST

My residence is in Senate District 25. Zada True-Courage is one of my SDEC representatives. At yesterday's SDEC meeting Zada's husband John Courage - who has run two inspiring, spirited campaigns against Lamar Smith for U.S. Congress - sat in Zada's place by lawful proxy and served as my representative.

John Courage is the founder of an organization called the True Courage Action Network. In just one year's time, TCAN has taken the lead as a single-minded champion of campaign finance reform. John is of the opinion that the influence of big money in our political system has corrupted the system and is destroying democracy. Does any reader of this blog disagree?

US House Judiciary's Web Wars

by: Matt Glazer

Mon Jun 25, 2007 at 09:34 AM CDT

Lamar Smith saw first hand last cycle how powerful the internet can be when John Courage made a strong run at him, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars online.  If it hadn’t been for a sudden Supreme Court ruling, Smith may have been on the early side of retirement.

Seeing the power of the internet Smith made some demands.  Of course, Fox's bias reigns supreme in their "reporting".

The response came after Texas Rep. Lamar Smith demanded the new page be removed from the committee Web site, and called it a partisan attempt to persecute the Bush administration and misuse taxpayer dollars for a witch-hunt.

Conyers said the attacks by House Republicans over the page are creating a "sideshow and a distraction" from the real issue — the firings of eight U.S. attorneys last December, he said.

"Some have raised allegations about a Web page that was designed to give department whistleblowers a mechanism to securely communicate with the committee. The Web page was launched prematurely, but the content of it represented a good faith interpretation of House rules," Conyers said in a statement.

Two things strike me about Smith’s defense of Bush and clearly partisan attack of the committee.  First, Bush’s most recent poll numbers have him at
26%, the second lowest in American history.  If it would pay off in the long run, I would understand why a Texas Republican would defend the Texas President, but Cornyn proves that defending Bush is a losing proposition.  Second, Lamar Smith’s track record shows he would rather use the Judiciary committee to protect Republican’s instead of doing its job.

"This committee, I'm sure we all would agree, should not engage in the partisan persecution of the administration's public officials," Smith said.

Is that why you bought your seat on the committee to protect Tom DeLay Mr. Smith?

And let’s be clear, the site is designed to allow people to contact the committee so they can further investigate Alberto Gonzales (another Texan and Bush loyalist) and his politicization of the Department of Justice.

"The committee is looking for concrete and specific actions taken or statements made by management-level officials of the department that have led career employees to be concerned that law enforcement actions will not be handled on a completely non-partisan, impartial manner but will be unduly influenced by partisan political or other inappropriate considerations," the letter reads.

It is clear that the Republican Party continues to hide behind partisan rhetoric in order to distort the truth.  The people have spoken Mr. Smith they wanted new leadership.  Let Chairman Conyers do his job and find out why Gonzales felt a need to fire nine qualified attorneys for no reason.

"The Elephant in the Room"*

by: JCourage

Wed May 02, 2007 at 01:46 PM CDT

The underlying motivation behind the Voter ID Bills, HB 218 and HB 626, is to intimidate minority and elderly voters who typically vote differently from the way the sponsors of these bills want them to. If you have been following our website and watching and listening to the debate, and if you have been reading the editorials in papers all over Texas, you understand that this is a "solution in search of a problem." These bills are targeted toward voters of a certain kind.

I believe the authors and movers of this bill have an agenda to stay in power and maintain contol of our state and national government, and this intimidation is one of their tools.

I do not intend to imply that everyone who thinks these bills sound reasonable or thinks we should make sure only citizens vote are racists or classists. But the forces behind this legislation (which is also being promoted in other states) certainly do feel that way.

Let me say this one more time as clearly as possible.

There is no mass voter fraud problem in Texas. There are no cases of voter impersonation that have been claimed or proven. There is no effort to steal the elections in Texas by getting people who aren’t citizens or who aren’t eligible to cast votes for anyone! There are already laws in Texas that require a voter to show an ID when they vote in Texas. These laws are working! We do not have any such problem!

But there is voter intimidation in Texas, and there have been situations where people have been turned away from the polls or have been forced to vote with a provisional ballot (of which 20% or fewer are counted). Texas has been and continues to remain subject to the Voting Rights Act because of our history of voter intimidation and voting rights abuses.

Maybe that is why Texas is second in population but only fifth in the number of voters who do vote.

Creating barriers to voting, no matter how well they are disguised, is still the wrong direction for us to take in Texas.

Knowing the insidious nature of this bill, I hope, will change your view if you have been supporting it. If not, so be it. As I said at the top, reasonable people can disagree. We at TCAN will continue to call ’em as we see ’em and work to protect Texans from an anti-democratic agenda and will champion reform where needed to ensure the ethical, electoral, and democratic process that is guaranteed to all of us under the Constitutions of the United States and Texas.

Sincerely,
John Courage, Chair
True Courage Action Network

Fundamental Big Money reform bills to be heard Wednesday in Elections Committee

by: Teri Sperry, TCAN

Tue Apr 17, 2007 at 03:33 PM CDT

Under the banner of Texans Against Big Money, campaign reform advocates and the sponsors of three bills to limit campaign money will hold a brief press conference to discuss the legislation's impact on Texas elections. House Elections Committee Chairman Leo Berman has scheduled the bills for public hearings on Wednesday afternoon.

Then come speak out (or sign in to show your support) for three important campaign contribution limits bills under consideration by the House Elections Committee. The hearing is schedule for 2pm or upon adjournment of the House (expect a delay).

We'll be delivering to the committee the stack of hundreds of petitions many of you have signed. If you haven't yet, please sign now and forward to friends. The Elections Committee needs to hear that people are ready to rein in the influence of Big Money in Texas politics.

You can read more background on the issue here

Elections Committee Gets a Scolding from John Courage on Voter ID Bills

by: Teri Sperry, TCAN

Wed Mar 28, 2007 at 07:13 PM CDT

And now the good news: The committee did unanimously pass Rep. Alma Allen's HJR 39, calling for post-ratification by Texas of the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ending the poll tax, which was originally ratified in 1964.

In testifying on behalf of Rep. Allen's joint resolution, True Courage Action Network chair John Courage chastised the committee for having earlier in the meeting voted to pass the voter roadblock bills. John pointed out that the multiple ID provisions will cost people money, time, and inconvenience. We  know that seniors, the disabled, and highly mobile  populations may not have their birth certificates, passports, naturalization papers, driver's licenses, or state-approved IDs. TCAN has recognized that these barriers to registration and voting are really voting suppression tactics and vigorously opposed them.

Undaunted by an interruption from Chairman Berman (saying he disagreed), John challenged the committee members to reconsider, in the spirit of the 24th Amendment, their vote for those anti-voter bills when they come up on the House floor later in the session.

Thanks again to all of you who heeded our call to action (and those of other hard-working public-interest groups). Please stay tuned, stick with us, and help kill this bad legislation on the floor once and for all.

The Courage to Restore Faith

by: Matt Glazer

Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 05:30 PM CST

Both men were forced to run against a full slate of characters, and did not wake up November 8th victoriously.

One man spent a month and began to fight for ethics reform with True Courage, and the other is now trying to put Faith in Texas.  While one spent four months taking the "needed time to regroup and reflect", the other has worked with state officials to file bills on campaign reform and redistricting.

This is a sad tale of two candidates, one who stayed to fight for Texas and the other reflected on what to do next.

Videos from Election Day in CD-23

by: pmbryant

Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 11:34 AM CST

Ciro Rodriguez, the voters of the 23rd congressional district of Texas, and everyone who helped out won a great victory yesterday.  And with that win, Democrats knock off Henry Bonilla, who went in one week from labelling Rodriguez as a terrorist-supporter, to reportedly making a gracious concession call, where he offered to work with Rodriguez during the transition.

We went down to Ciro's victory rally at the packed Harlandale Civic Center on the south side last night,and posted a video segment of Ciro's victory speech. Earlier in the day, we got short video interviews of Rep. Joe Baca of California and John Courage explaining why they were out supporting the GOTV effort for Ciro. The videos are at my blog, B and B.

Thanks again to everyone who helped make this victory a reality!