Warren Chisum has been a busy man the past few days. So when he called us this morning to respond to our Friday story about an omission on his 2007 ethics form, we couldn’t help but ask about the most pressing issue in state politics.
“Well, you know, as a Republican, I have a little problem [...]
State House Appropriations Committee Chairman Warren Chisum says he didn’t list his $600-a-month legislative salary on his 2007 personal financial disclosure form because he doesn’t believe “in the truest sense of the word” that he’s an employee of the state.
But he also said he’d call the state Ethics Commission and ask for clarification on it. [...]
The list of people who were running for Tom Craddick’s job as speaker seemed like it was a mile long just the other day. Now, it’s dwindling as more and more candidates get behind relative newcomer Joe Straus, a Republican from San Antonio.
We’re continuing to update our interactive Google Map looking at the candidates [...]
Calling all bloggers in Houston and the surrounding area: Do you ever blog about local politics? How about your kid’s school? Or new roads that you think need to be built to your town? Or a pollution problem in your neighborhood?
Texas Watchdog wants to help you.
We want to put on a meetup — an informal, [...]
The Bush library foundation says it won’t disclose its donors — but for a peek at what the group has to disclose, here are the foundation’s tax forms for 2007 and 2006.
The Dallas Morning News has the news of the library’s plans not to make public its donors:
The nonprofit foundation that aims to raise $300 [...]
Looks like Texas will have a new state House speaker soon. Incumbent Speaker Tom Craddick is dropping his bid for re-election to the speaker’s post. More at Dallas Morning News, El Paso Times, Star-Telegram. And don’t forget to keep checking our (ever-updating) Google Map for the House speaker’s race.
Keep up with all the latest [...]
One of the many Texas political blogs we read — can’t remember which one (e-mail me if you do) — recently observed that it would just be easier to list the state House members who AREN’T running for House speaker, rather than list the ones who ARE running.
The same could be said for our interactive [...]
We’ve added Rep. Joe Straus to our interactive map of the “who’s who” in the race for Texas Speaker of the House.
We’ll be adding to the map about the race for Texas House Speaker as the weekend continues.
The map is chock-full of information about the people running for Speaker, as well as some key players [...]
State Rep. Charlie Geren is supposed to be meeting sometime — maybe even right about now — with his “ABC” Republicans in the state as they try to craft their strategy for the House speaker’s race, the Star-Telegram’s Dave Montgomery reports:
Geren, R-Fort Worth, is one of the leaders — some say the leader — of [...]
InstantNewsKaty.com is reporting today that the state attorney general’s office has sided with the Katy Independent School District in allowing the school system to keep private police reports in the cheerleader hazing case that made national news last fall.
InstantNewsKaty had filed an open records request to review the police report and other investigative materials complied [...]
Confused by the race for House speaker? Our map lifts the veil on the candidates jostling for the job as well as other key players. We highlight one of those players — Appropriations Chairman Warren Chisum — who failed to disclose salary information, according to the documents we showcase via our map.
With the year coming to a close, it’s time to get all misty-eyed about all things 2008. So here’s a wrapup of our most popular stories from this year, in case you missed any:
+ Ballots cast in Houston using dead voters’ names (Posted Oct. 9)
+ Public can take closer look at legislators’ finances via interactive [...]
The staff here at Texas Watchdog is visiting family over the Christmas season and during the New Year’s celebration. There may be some occasional posts on our blog, but please come back after January 1 when we will continue our featured reports and original reporting.
As always, if you have any ideas concerning where (or who) [...]
You might have seen our story last week on how some 1,700-plus state workers made $100,000 or more in 2007. We paired with it a database of those workers’ names and total pay amounts.
I couldn’t help but notice that the state comptroller’s office’s “Where the Money Goes” Web site — which shows you, for instance, [...]
What do you make of this? Government is the fastest-growing business sector in the Houston area, even as Houston’s jobless rate inches up. That’s according to this weekend piece in The Chronicle.
In the most recent report, government added the most jobs locally, putting on 11,900 new positions, for a 3.3 percent jump. The second-fastest growing [...]
I blogged last week on how open government laws can help people learn about both big things and little things when it comes to what their government is doing. Oftentimes, it’s us professional journalist folks using the open government laws. But regular folks can use them, too, and some do — and I wish more [...]
Several of the largest donors to the efforts to rebuild the burned structure also have business before the state government and its regulatory arms, a Texas Watchdog analysis has found. Others giving big bucks include the CEO of H.E.B., and music stars George Strait and LeAnn Rimes are contributing their star power.
Houston-area homeowners should plan to chip in more than $400 each over 12 years toward a system of “smart” meters aimed at making homes more energy-efficient, the Houston Chronicle reports today.
The Texas Public Utility Commission OKed the CenterPoint Energy plan at its Thursday meeting. The fee works out to $3.24 per month beginning in February, [...]
Should public employees’ home addresses be public record?
Texas Watchdog says yes. But a state lawmaker has pre-filed a bill for the upcoming legislative session that looks like it would make state workers’ home addresses, and other information, confidential.
Public employees don’t like us journalists snooping in their businesses, knowing where they live or their phone [...]
Thank goodness for freedom of information laws. Without them, there’s all kinds of stuff we wouldn’t know.
Without them, folks in Detroit wouldn’t know about all the shady deals their (now-former) mayor was doing. Americans wouldn’t know much of what they know about what’s going on at Guantanamo Bay. And here at home, Texans wouldn’t [...]
Remember that big fuss about that unusual church group that went by the name FLDS, where folks were alleged to be practicing polygamy and kids were getting abused, and the state went in and took like 400 kids away? Well, the state Child Protective Services agency has done an investigation into it.
But when The [...]
From the Star-Telegram:
A former Farmers Branch City Council member is suing her city for not complying with the state’s freedom of information law.
Carol Dingman filed suit in a state civil court in Dallas on Wednesday, demanding the city produce legal bills that the state Attorney General ordered must be turned over. Instead of producing the [...]
Video: Texas Watchdog’s inaugural investigative piece detailed top Bush money-man Stephen Payne’s close relationship with the White House — a relationship the White House took pains to distance itself from. Here is the video of The Times of London sting, featuring Stephen Payne.
