Politex

Local conservatives mum on where to cut local pork

 Star-Telegram writer Darren Barbee took a wide-angle look at all the federal funding that flows to Tarrant County on Sunday.

What he found: Among the 20 most-populated U.S. counties, Tarrant raked in more federal money in 2008 than any except Los Angeles and Cook County, Ill., not counting flood insurance payments. (The county might be lower if New York City was included, but several of its counties are combined statistically, making it difficult to know how much money went to each.)

Barbee asked some of the county's conservative leaders, many of whom have been publicly criticizing Washington, D.C.'s fiscal policies this year at tea party rallies, what federal funding should Tarrant part with?

He's still waiting for suggestions.

Domestic partner decision in New York

The Associated Press reports that an appeals court in New York upheld the right of same-sex couples to get health insurance and other domestic-partner benefits if they've been married in another state.

Benefits for domestic partners has been  big topic at Fort Worth City Hall. That's one of the major gay-rights recommendations that came out of the police incident at the Rainbow Lounge summer.  Conservative groups have hinted that providing domestic partner benefits might violate the Texas consitutional amendment that defines marriage as being between a man and a woman.

The New York appeals court rejected some of those arguments, but hinted that the state legislature needs to settle the question of whether gays can marry in that state.

Read below the jump for the whole article.

-- Mike Lee

Chances are you haven't voted yet

Early voting started yesterday for the Nov. 3 election.

In Tarrant County, 807 people voted. In a county of more than 800,000, registered voters, that's less than 0.1 percent.

At several early voting locations, less than 10 people used the voting machines. In the Everman Independent School District, where voters are being asked to decide on a property tax increase, one person voted yesterday.

So if you're reading this and you're a registered voter in Tarrant County (and not one of those 807 who did their civic duty yesterday), consider taking a look at this list of early voting locations and times.

Don't know what's on the ballot? Here's our primer on the 11 statewide constitutional amendments. Several local entities have issues on the ballot too. Fort Worth voters will decide whether the crime control tax is renewed. And the Arlington school district is holding a $197.5 million bond election.

Early voting continues through Oct. 30.

-Aman Batheja

Keep looking for Politex at the new star-telegram.com

When you visit star-telegram.com on Tuesday, you'll notice that it's been redesigned. The Web site will have a new look, and will be faster and easier to use.

Look for Politex in the Blogs section of the new star-telegram.com homepage.

You can also follow us on Twitter.

-Aman Batheja

Did Moncrief apologize for the Rainbow Lounge raid? (updated)

Last night's Fort Worth City Council meeting briefly turned chaotic as protesters interrupted Mayor Mike Moncrief, preventing him from continuing with the meeting.

After the protesters, all with the Dallas-based group Queer LiberAction, were ousted from City Hall, some attendees were still challenging the mayor.

A few people called on Moncrief to apologize for different aspects of the Rainbow Lounge raid. A woman asked him if he was going to apologize for a man being hospitalized.

“Listen, if you want an apology from your mayor, I am sorry for what happened in Fort Worth, " Moncrief said, drawing some applause. "I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry.”

The question that's emerged today: What exactly did the mayor apologize for? The raid itself? Chad Gibson's injuries? The overall situation?

Many assumed the mayor was apologizing for the raid but, according to city spokesman Bill Begley, that's not true.

"The mayor and council are always sorry if anyone is hurt ever in our city," Begley said Wednesday. "The mayor has asked for a thorough investigation of what happened in the Rainbow Lounge to the point that he’s asked for the U.S. attorney to get involved ...They want to make sure that all voices are heard ... but the apology is that anyone is ever hurt in any incident.”

Watch the clip for yourself here.

-Aman Batheja and Deanna Boyd

Police Chief updates council on Rainbow Lounge investigation (updated)

UPDATE: Seven protesters were removed from Tuesday night's City Council meeting after they refused to allow the meeting to continue until the Rainbow Lounge presentation was moved up to the top of the agenda. More details here.

A large turnout is expected at tonight’s Fort Worth City Council meeting as activists plan to attend in droves, intent on keeping the spotlight on last month’s Rainbow Lounge Raid.

Both Fairness Fort Worth and the ACLU are encouraging supporters to attend. Many are expected to speak their mind to the council. John Nelson, an attorney with Fairness Fort Worth, has arranged to make a citizen’s presentation about the incident and the investigation.

During the pre-council meeting this afternoon, Fort Worth Police Chief Jeff Halstead gave the council an update on his investigation of the June 28 raid, when state and local police conducted a bar inspection at a gay bar and made six arrests, severely injuring one patron. The incident has galvanized the gay community.

Some key points from Halstead’s presentation:

--Internal affairs investigators have conducted interviews with 33 attendees at the Rainbow Lounge and expected to complete the investigation in approximately 30 days.

--The Fort Worth police consider the investigation a priority, taking some internal affairs investigators off other cases to focus on the Rainbow Lounge incident, he said.

--Halstead expects to update the police department’s policy regarding bar raids, after taking input from the community.

“I don’t want a police officer to say, ‘I’ve never been in that bar. Let’s do an investigation,’” Halstead said.

--Soon after the incident, Halstead said he decided he needed a police officer to serve as a liaison to the city’s gay/lesbian/bisexual community, just as the department has people serving in a similar position for other minority communities. Officer Sara Straten, a neighborhood officer in north Fort Worth and 17-year veteran of the department, volunteered for the position.

“I plan to work hard to heal the community as a whole, both the police department and the GLBT community,” Straten told the council.

Mayor Mike Moncrief and council members praised Halstead but added they support the current plan to have the US Attorney’s office review the police investigation.

“While June 28 was a difficult day, I’m pleased to hear that we are moving forward and not backward,” Mayor Mike Moncrief told Halstead. “This city is an inclusive city. This is not an exclusive city”

Slow down, Fort Worth

The city Transportation Department pronounces itself pleased with progress made by red-light cameras.

The number of accidents has decreased at the targeted intersections. The cameras have resulted in about $1.2 million in fines -- $765,000 went for expenses (including payments to ATS, the contractor), $221,000 went to the state and $221,000 went to the city.

And, no, Transportation Director Bill Verkest told the City Council, the city hasn't shortened the yellow light times in order to catch more drivers.

The city has 25 cameras at 17 intersections, and is planning to add 10 more at six intersections. Drivers get a $75 fine if they run the red light.

For route-planning purposes, here's a map of the locations:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&gl=us&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=103983365847656145090.00046c79c7ae668c2c0a2&ll=32.777461,-97.26059&spn=0.243628,0.43396&z=11

-- Mike Lee

Zimmerman leads District 3 runoff in early voting

W.B. "Zim" Zimmerman was ahead in early voting in the runoff for District 3 on the City Council.

He pulled 55 percent of the vote, compared to 45 percent for Eric Fox.

Both candidates are trying to replace Chuck Silcox, who held the seat for 17 years until his death in October.

Turnout in early voting was slightly higher than it was during the regular City Council election on May 9 -- 2,097 votes compared to 2,061 on May 9.

In other runoff elections:

Paige Ring had 72 percent of the early votes in the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw school board election against Mark Canterbury. That was the election that ended in a dead tie after a recount.

In the Keller school district, Wendy Collins had 59 percent of early votes over Brian Crowson.

In Bedford, incumbent City Councilman Roy Savage had 66 percent of early votes over Dave Gebhart.

In Benbrook, challenger Pamela Brandenberg had 57 percent of early votes over incumbent Ron Sauma.

In White Settlement, challenger Helen Warner led incumbent City Councilman Don Smith with 58 percent of the vote.

-- Mike Lee

Tuning out. . .

Update: City Manager Dale Fisseler said the League of Women Voters' forum have passed legal review and will be broadcast on Friday as previously scheduled.

"We didn't miss any cable shows and they got it back on the website," he said.

 

 

 

 

City officials pulled the plug on what may be the only television interviews of most of the candidates for mayor and City Council.

The League of Women Voters held the forums over two days in early April and 23 of the 25 candidates in contested races attended.. The forums were broadcast on the city’s Cable Access Channel starting Sunday.

However, the broadcasts stopped Wednesday, and it’s unclear if they’ll be re-broadcast between now and election day, as previously announced.

UPDATE: City Manager Dale Fisseler wanted the broadcasts to be reviewed by city lawyers, spokesman Jason Lamers said. The forums could be cleared by Friday, which is their next scheduled air date.

“He wanted to make sure everything was on solid ground,” Lamers said.

It wasn’t clear what legal issues Fisseler was concerned about, nor did the city receive any complaints about the forum, although Lamers mentioned a statute that prohibits using taxpayer money political purposes.

However, other election forums by the League and groups, such as the Fort Worth Minority Leaders and Citizens Council, have been broadcast for years without being reviewed by city lawyers.

Edith Jones, who moderated the forums for the League, said she was “appalled.”

“We’ve never had anything like,” she said. “That is just censorship in the worst way.”

The League of Women Voters has been putting out non-partisan voters guides for more than 10 years.

Jones moderated the forums, and tried to be strictly neutral. A representative from the Fort Worth League of Neighborhood Associations acted as timekeeper and a Star-Telegram reporter was allowed to attend, but could not ask questions.

Each candidate was allowed to give an opening and closing statement, and each was allowed the same amount of time to respond to a series of questions, including their views on natural gas drilling, street construction, the Trinity River Vision project and the city budget.

The only two candidates who didn’t attend were Mayor Mike Moncrief and Carey Brown, a candidate for District 5 on the City Council.

 

-- Mike Lee

Follow the election online

With 25 candidates and seven contested races, it's hard to keep up with who's running for Mayor and City Council in Fort Worth, much less where they stand on the issues. Here's a couple of ways to get educated.

The League of Women Voters of Tarrant County interviewed all but two of the candidates during videotaped forums earlier this month. A neutral moderator quizzed the candidates on street construction, the city budget and natural gas drilling. The forums are now running on the city's cable access channel and are also available as streaming video on the city website. For a list of times, go to the League of Women Voters website, www.lwvtarrantcounty.org. The league is also planning to publish a voters' guide later this month, explaining each candidate's stand on different issues.

The Fort Worth League of Neighborhoods sent written questionairres to all the candidates, and has posted the responses on its website: www.fwlna.org

-- Mike Lee