A colleague of mine at work sent me a link to a Time article that provided an in depth look at the stimulus plan being proposed. I had mentioned to him several times it’s time for some Keynesian economics to kick into gear. It is very apparent the American public and business are not going to jump start the economy any time in the next 3-5 years. Keynes promoted that at times like this it’s critical to have government take the lead and provide “stimulus” to help fuel investment and spending. Read more…
In an AP story in the Austin American-Statesman former Speaker Tom Craddick had the files from his computers wiped clean during his last day in office as speaker. The Legislature Council felt this was an acceptable practice and took no actions to preserve any records. However this act is heating up the blogosphere and may be investigated by the new Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg who took over for former DA and watchdog Ronnie Earle. Read more…
In a posting today in Postcards, the lege blog of the Austin American-Statesman, State Rep. Frank Corte (R-San Antonio) confirmed he will not be seeking re-election as chairman of the House GOP caucus. He said that the fact that Speaker Joe Straus (R-San Antonio) was elected did not factor into his decision. Some are speculating that he may have decided not to run for chairman to avoid having to criticize a fellow representative from Bexar County if the situation arose. Read more…
The Dallas Morning News reported yesterday that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has endorsed Rick Perry in his bid for re-election as governor of the state of Texas calling him the “true conservative.” The endorsement came in a letter sent to 10,500 members of the Texas Federation of Republican Women who, according to the article, have been crucial in the past to the support of US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. Hutchison is planning a challenge to Gov. Perry’s re-election bid in 2010. Read more…
Tomorrow Texas Public Radio will run a story about how the candidates running for mayor of San Antonio are using the Internet and social media. It should be an interesting story in an election following one of the most successful campaigns to leverage these tools, the Obama campaign. Lessons to be learned from that campaign are that if a candidate can successfully use the tools offered they can stand to benefit from getting the message out and raising incredible amounts of money. The question is how much these campaigns understand that aspect and are willing to take the time to leverage it. Read more…
It’s an odd numbered year and that can only mean one thing in San Antonio – city council elections. The season is just getting started and, as always, San Antonians get to enjoy having our parties crashed by the candidates. For anyone who has lived in San Antonio you know the festival and party march that eventually culiminates with the Texas Folklife Festival. Every one of these gatherings serves as a great venue for candidates to show their faces, press the flesh, and in some cases look downright funny. Read more…
Trish DeBerry-Mejia has a new campaign ad airing on TV in San Antonio focusing on work/life balance. In it she speaks of her commitment to focusing on family issues within the workplace such as childcare. “Creating a family-friendly culture that enables employees to fulfill themselves career-wise, while also being the best mother or father they know how to be has always been a priority with my company,” said DeBerry-Mejia. She is also hosting a table at UTSA’s Great Conversation! focusing on the same topic. So apparently she feels strongly that this is a critical issue in San Antonio. But is it really? What are the issues that San Antonio will be facing that the next mayor will deal with. Read more…
Each year UTSA hosts an incredible event in February called Great Conversation at the Institute of Texan Cultures benefiting the UTSA Honors College. The event is a night of good food and table conversation on a variety of interesting and engaging topics hosted by UTSA faculty and leaders in the San Antonio community. The event was started by Dr. Harriett Romo and is modeled after a similar event at the University of Memphis. Throughout the years the event has grown and is a highlight for many San Antonians. As is stated on the event’s website “Food may be filling, but good company and conversation can keep you at the table hungering for more…” Read more…
Recently at work I started blogging on an internal site I called Mousetraps and Manifestos. It is intended to provide a perspective on things related to my job, my responsibilites and, in general, items that have an effect on my company. Up until a couple of days ago I was diligently posting an entry a day and had started to achieve a readership. People would comment, e-mail or call me about a particular item I blogged about. As I said, up until a couple of days ago. Now I am isolated and the effect has started to become devasting. Read more…
In testimony before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Postmaster General John E. Potter described the financial situation of the Postal Service in light of the economic crisis in America today. In an AP story carried by Business Week estimates for Postal Services losses could add up to around $6 billion a year under current operating conditions. One option being considered is the elimination of one delivery day a week, reducing the delivery week to five delivery days. Potter noted that if this action were taken it would most likely occur on a light delivery day such as Tuesday. Read more…
In an address before about 900 people at the Marriott Rivercenter Mayor Phil Hardberger delivered his final State of the City address titled “Closing the Circle.” In it he highlighted some of the achievements accomplished over his four year term of office but more importantly addressed several initiatives and ventures to help sustain and grow the city of San Antonio. Of significance was the announcement of “Mission Verde”, a plan for providing a sustainable energy infrastructure focused on distributed, renewable energy. Hardberger also announced the creation of a multi-tech venture capital fund designed to help foster new technologies, new companies, and new jobs. Read more…
There has been a lot of speculation about who will run in 2010 for governor of Texas. Governor Perry is definitely running for re-election, aiming to continue his streak of longest serving governor of the state. Kay Bailey Hutchison has launched an exploratory committee and has loaned the committee $1 million to fund the exploration. She was in Austin on Saturday and announced a list of supporters for her candidacy that included some old and new GOP names. Paul Burka goes into an in depth analysis in this month’s Texas Monthly about the red side of the ticket. So that sets up the GOP side, sort of. But what about the Democrats? Read more…
Dianne Cibrian officially entered the race for mayor of San Antonio Sunday in an announcement ceremony at the Tower of the Americas. While it has been no secret of her entry the announcement on Sunday served as a means to showcase her support base. In an article in the Express-News some of the supporters mentioned included longtime Democratic and civic activist Bill Sinkin, BJ “Red” McCombs, developer Marty Wender, and DPT Labs head John Feik. That list seems to confirm that Cibrian is the developer-friendly candidate as has been rumored. Read more…
In an opinion piece in today’s Express-News public editor Bob Richter talks about changes that are coming to the newspaper that will have effect on the amount of content to be delivered. Just as other businesses are facing challenging times due to the financial crisis so is the Express-News. Richter mentioned that buyouts have been offered to employees and a hiring and wage freeze is no in effect. But the most troubling of the changes is the reduction in 32 pages from the paper weekly. Read more…
In an interview with KERA in Dallas former San Antonio mayor Henry Cisneros told interviewer Shelley Kofler that he is not considering running for governor or any other race in 2010 or beyond. However, when pressed on that answer Cisneros hedged and didn’t rule the option out. As he stated “Well, I could say no. But, um, obviously one has to think about it. I think the answer is no. But who knows.” I guess that means no but then again, Cisneros is a politician so the answer is not so obvious. Read more…
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