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Updated: Lieutenant governor-elect Patrick says liberals “picked wrong battleground”

Dan Patrick and Leticia Van de Putte, Texas Senate colleagues and rivals for lieutenant governor (AP pool photo, Sept. 29 KLRU debate)

Update at 9:45 p.m.: Dan Patrick said his election reaffirms the state’s conservative tilt.

“Texas voters sent a powerful message to the rest of the country – the liberal, Washington-style agenda my opponent so proudly boasted simply has no place in Texas,” he said in a written statement. “Tonight’s decisive victory proves they picked the wrong battleground.”

Van de Putte told supporters that she called Patrick and offered “sincere congratulations on a well-disciplined campaign.” Van de Putte, who didn’t have to give up her Senate seat to run statewide, added that she assured Patrick “I would continue in my public service.”

Update at 8:28 p.m.: Van de Putte has conceded, congratulating Patrick for “running a disciplined campaign.”

In a statement, she thanked supporters and said she looks “forward to continuing to serve my community and this great state.” See note below about how she retains her Texas Senate seat.

“This campaign and my service have always been about securing the future for the next generation, para mis hijos y nietos,” Van de Putte concluded.

Update at 8:16 p.m.: AP has called the race for Patrick.

Original item at 8:08 p.m.: Republican and tea party darling Dan Patrick established a solid lead over Democrat Leticia Van de Putte in Tuesday’s tally of the early vote for lieutenant governor.

With more than 2.1 million early votes counted, Patrick is leading Van de Putte with 56 percent to her 41 percent.

Playing rope-a-dope in the fall contest, Patrick avoided gaffes and lowered his public profile. This was after he ran a highly combative campaign to capture the GOP nomination earlier this year.

But while Patrick coasted through the general election, he didn’t tone down his staunchly conservative views.

Au contraire.

Seizing full advantage of the summer’s influx of unaccompanied children from Central America, the rise of the Islamic State in the Middle East and the arrival of Ebola in Dallas, Patrick hewed to his hard line on immigration and border security.

He raised the prospect of Islamic terrorists crossing the Texas-Mexico border in his fall TV ads.

In other ads and his single televised debate with Van de Putte, he also stood firm against abortion, under any circumstance; and for school voucher-like proposals to shake up public schools.

Van de Putte, not well-known beyond her San Antonio base, didn’t raise the big money that fellow state Sen. Wendy Davis did in the governor’s race.

But as Patrick’s senior colleague in the Texas Senate, Van de Putte soon could be in an interesting position: Last year, she drew a four-year Senate term and thus did not have to give up her seat to run for lieutenant governor. If she loses to Patrick, she can sit back and watch him preside — and offer critiques, if she chooses.

Carona makes peace with Patrick, Van de Putte pulls more Planned Parenthood help

Sen. John Carona talks with a supporter in Dallas on primary night in March. (Kye R. Lee/Staff photographer)

Update at 3:25 p.m.: Have corrected date of Paul Reyes’ and Helen Carona’s contributions to Patrick: They gave on the same day in 2013, not this year.

Original item at 12:43 p.m.: Dallas state Sen. John Carona has continued to make peace with fellow Republican and lieutenant governor candidate Dan Patrick.

The political action committee at Carona’s business Associa Inc., which manages homeowners’ assocations across the country, gave Patrick $5,000 earlier this week, according to telegram reports to the Texas Ethics Commission.

As my colleague Terrence Stutz reported here nearly 2 1/2 years ago, Carona called Patrick a “snake oil salesman” and a “narcissist that would say anything to draw attention to himself.”

Patrick, R-Houston, said in an email to all senators that Carona had spread a false rumor that Patrick and his wife, Jan, were divorcing. Carona, R-Dallas, replied that Patrick should have first checked with him regarding the allegations before contacting their colleagues. Carona also raised the ante, mentioning rumors about Patrick’s sexual orientation as well. Patrick dismissed as “a lie” suggestions he is gay and demanded Carona apologize.

At the time, Carona didn’t. Late last year, though, the Associa PAC gave $30,000 to Patrick, even as Carona didn’t personally endorse him in the GOP lieutenant governor primary.

In March, Carona lost his Senate seat to tea party-backed Republican Don Huffines in a GOP primary. Since then, he has endorsed Patrick.

Dan Patrick and Leticia Van de Putte shake hands at their televised debate last month. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

As I reported in a story in Wednesday’s newspaper, Associa executive Paul Reyes, a former Carona Senate staff aide, contributed $20,000 to Patrick. That was on top of $5,000 Reyes gave to Patrick in August 2013 — the same day Carona’s wife, Helen, chipped in $2,500 to the Patrick cause.

It appears that Associa may have some legislative irons in the fire.

Meanwhile, Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, Patrick’s Democratic colleague and opponent for lieutenant governor, reported more than three times as many late contributions as did Patrick.

This week, she took in more than $82,000, to about $23,500 for Patrick.

Just more than half of the contributions on Van de Putte’s telegram reports came from groups supporting abortion rights. Planned Parenthood’s PACs in New York City and Austin donated nearly $30,000 of staff time, phone calls and postage. Annie’s List gave the San Antonio lawmaker a $13,000 check.

As I noted in Wednesday’s story, Patrick strategist Allen Blakemore belittled Van de Putte’s matching Patrick’s fundraising haul of $2 million between Sept. 26 and Saturday. Blakemore noted that one-third of her money was in-kind donations from Planned Parenthood, the liberal group Texas Organizing Project and voter-organizing Battleground Texas.

On Thursday morning, Logan Spence, a long-time Patrick aide, seized on the late assists from Planned Parenthood PACs as a sign Van de Putte would try to lead the Senate in a very different direction on abortion than Patrick would. But then we knew that, didn’t we?

Here’s Spence’s tweet on the subject:

Patrick taunts media for calling him “stealth” candidate

GOP lieutenant governor hopeful Dan Patrick speaks during Texas Tribune Festival on Saturday. (AP Photo/Austin American-Statesman, Rodolfo Gonzalez)

Sen. Dan Patrick has apparently taken offense at being called inaccessible to the mainstream media — and even, heaven forfend, a candidate taking “the stealth approach” to campaigning.

The campaign of Patrick, who has said he would be accountable as lieutenant governor by still being on his radio talk show, doesn’t put out advisories that tell news outlets when and where he is appearing.

The Patrick camp has granted Democratic rival Leticia Van de Putte one debate (to be aired on some public televisions live at 7 p.m. Central Monday night). Van de Putte, though, requested five.

On Thursday, appearing before a Houston business group, Patrick fired back at his hometown newspaper, the Houston Chronicle. Earlier this month, it ran a story about his campaign tactics (which you can see here, though it’s behind a paywall). Basically, the story said he’s minimizing risks and avoiding giving his opponent free exposure, by limiting how many uncontrolled, highly covered appearances he makes.

It even used the S word — as in “stealth.”

Patrick asked his Thursday audience, “Is anyone here from the Chronicle?” The line drew laughs, the paper reported. Patrick continued:

“I just wanted you to know: I am here. This is my stealth suit – apparently you can’t see me.”

Spokesman: Trial lawyer Mostyn helped police group because he wanted to try to unseat hometown state rep

Houston trial lawyer Steve Mostyn (2010 photo by Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman)

Houston trial lawyer and political mega donor Steve Mostyn, who usually helps Democratic candidates, bankrolled a police group that was mostly playing in GOP primaries last spring because he’s from Tyler and wanted to knock off tea party-backed freshman Republican Rep. Matt Schaefer, R-Tyler, a spokesman said Monday.

“We were playing close attention to the race in East Texas because Steve’s from Tyler,” said Mostyn spokesman Jeff Rotkoff.

Rotkoff said Mostyn and his wife, Amber, who each election cycle give millions to state political causes, dropped a cool $50,000 on the Texas Municipal Police Association PAC this year because they were impressed with the group’s goals in the primary election.

“They opposed candidates who we thought were not doing a good job,” Rotkoff said.

Among the PAC’s targets were attorney general candidate Ken Paxton of McKinney, whom the law enforcement group’s president chided in this open letter for failing to register as an investment adviser. The omission drew Paxton, a freshman state senator, a fine from the Texas State Securities Board. Three months earlier, the police PAC endorsed Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, Paxton’s chief rival for attorney general. In a May 27 runoff, Paxton crushed Branch.

The association says it has more than 20,000 members who are law enforcement officers and first responders. Late last year, its PAC moved early to back Republican Speaker Joe Straus for re-election to his House seat in San Antonio. In this year’s GOP House primaries, the PAC generally supported Straus allies. For instance, it helped Rep. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, who won; and Rep. Bennett Ratliff, R-Coppell, who narrowly lost.

Rep. Matt Schaefer (Courtesy House website)

By far the PAC’s biggest push was defeating Schaefer, who is allied with Straus’ critics. A year ago, Paxton and 20 of the House’s most conservative members traveled to Tyler to attend a fundraiser for Schaefer, according to this post by Texas Monthly‘s Paul Burka.

Of the $72,000 the municipal police association PAC has raised this year, 69 percent came from the Mostyn Law Firm, according to a Dallas Morning News review of campaign-finance reports to the Texas Ethics Commission. Of the $81,500 the PAC has spent on candidates in 2014, just over $52,000 — or 64 percent — went to buy radio ads, mailers and brochures for Schaefer’s GOP challenger, Tyler businessman Skip Ogle, the newspaper found.

The effort failed as Schaefer, one of the House’s most conservative members, fended off Ogle in the initial March 4 balloting, 61 percent to 39 percent.

Late Monday, PAC treasurer Lon Craft, who is the police association’s director of legislative services, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Mostyn donations.

Mostyn grew up in Whitehouse, just outside Tyler, and has relatives who live in Tyler, Rotkoff said.

Dewhurst names new Senate leaders

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst issued new assignments for committee leaders on Friday to fill in for veteran lawmakers resigning, retiring or having been defeated in the primaries.

He said he is making the changes because some committee chairs will not be returning and he wanted to “ensure there is a smooth transition and the Senate is ready to hit the ground running.”

Earlier, he promoted Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, to head the budget-writing Finance Committee, replacing Tommy Williams, who left to become vice chancellor at Texas A&M University System.

The next spaces filled included naming Sen. Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls, as chairman of State Affairs, which usually studies major legislation. Estes will step in for Robert Duncan of Lubbock, who resigned to become chancellor of Texas Tech University.

Estes will also retain his positions as chairman of Agriculture, Rural Affairs and Homeland Security; co-chair of the Joint Interim Committee to Study Water Desalination, and as a member of the Natural Resources Committee.

Taking over for Nelson as the leader of Health and Human Services will be Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown. Schwertner is an orthopedic surgeon.

And Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, will head up the Business and Commerce Committee, replacing John Carona of Dallas who lost his re-election bid. Eltife also will remain chairman of Senate Administration.

Dewhurst, who lost his bid for re-election in the GOP primary to Sen. Dan Patrick, said he made the new assignments because the committees need to be laying the groundwork and studying interim issues before the next session begins on Jan. 13.

Patrick is facing Democrat Sen. Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio in the general election to take over the position of lieutenant governor. The lieutenant governor presides over the Senate and makes all committee assignments. The successor will take office in January.

“While my successor may choose to realign assignments to best meet emerging challenges, these appointments ensure that all necessary work will be completed by the end of the interim, setting up the Senate for a successful session,” Dewhurst said.

Disability rights attorney leading in Democratic House race for District 105

Among the few Democratic primary runoff races tonight is the District 105, which includes parts of Irving and Grand Prairie.

With only a few precincts reporting so far, disability rights activist Susan Motley is leading with about 73 percent of the vote over attorney Terry Meza, according to preliminary results.

The winner will go on to face Rodney Anderson, who pulled and upset in the Republican primary by defeating longtime Rep. Linda Harper-Brown in March.

Former Waxahachie mayor clenches Ellis County’s District 10 race

Updated at 10:15 a.m. by Claire Cardona: With all precincts reporting, former Waxahachie mayor John Wray secured the District 10 seat with 52.9 percent of the vote.

John Wray

His opponent, tea-party backed T.J. Fabby, got 47.09 percent of the 11,374 votes.

On his campaign Facebook page, Wray thanked his supporters who contributed time, money and effort and said he was “honored and humbled” to be chosen as the district’s next state representative.

He also thanked Fabby for running.

“As I have learned, it takes a great deal of effort, courage, and sacrifice to place your name in contention for State Representative, and I commend TJ for stepping up,” he said in the post. “He is a hard worker and a firm believer in the ideals that have made Texas the greatest state in our country. I look forward to soliciting his input, and the input of his supporters, in the coming months as everyone in House District 10 works together for the good of Texas.”

On his campaign page, Fabby said he had no regrets.

“Well, the election did not turn out as we had hoped. I am very proud of the race we ran. We worked hard, stuck to our message, and stayed positive,” he said. “I want to thank all of our supporters for standing beside us as we tried to bring true conservative representation back to the people of HD-10. It is encouraging to know that 47% of the voters wanted that.”

T.J. Fabby

Original item by Eva-Marie Ayala:

John Wray, former mayor of Waxahachie, is leading with 55 percent of the vote and a majority of precincts reporting, according to unofficial results.

Wray was head of opponent T.J. Fabby, a small-business owner from Red Oak.

Last week, Fabby tried to raise questions about donations to Wray’s campaign, which included money from a wealthy North Texas businessman who is Muslim.

Fabby has received donations from the conservative Accountability First PAC.

The two are vying to replace longtime Rep. Jim Pitts, who is retiring from the House.

House District 10 includes parts of Ellis and Henderson counties.

UPDATE: Former Collin County commissioner clenches District 66 primary race

UPDATE, 8:46 p.m.: Matt Shaheen received nearly 55 percent of the votes to beat out Glenn Callison, according to unofficial returns from Collin County after all 41 precincts reported results.

Original post:

Matt Shaheen was leading over opponent Glenn Callison with 54 percent of the early votes, according to preliminary results just released by the Collin County election officials.

The winner of the District 66 Republican primary will be on track to replace outgoing Rep. Van Taylor, who is now seeking a seat in the Texas Senate.

There is no Democratic challenger in November.

Shaheen, a technology executive, served as a Collin County commissioner for five years before seeking state office.

Gallison, of Plano, is a political newcomer.

Update: State legislative candidate Morgan Meyer wins runoff; Chart Westcott concedes in Facebook post

Update at 10:48 p.m.: Republican nominee Morgan Meyer celebrated his House District 108 runoff victory with family and supporters at Javier’s Gourmet Mexicano. He said the race’s decisive outcome proves that voters are turned off by smear tactics.

Morgan Meyer celebrated early voting returns with his wife, Keana Meyer, and young children. (Claire Cardona/Dallas Morning News)

“The message was clear,” he told The Dallas Morning News. “That type of campaigning will not work, and that type of campaigning should end tonight.”

Meyer said the big win was also “a testament to grassroots and community support” that “overcome any amount of money.”

The race cost more than $2 million, with Westcott spending three times more than his rival.

Update at 8:39 p.m.: Chart Westcott’s campaign manager Matt Langston defended the campaign’s aggressive efforts at an election watch party, after Westcott conceded in a Facebook post.

“Chart ran a hard-fought campaign and ran on a conservative message,” Langston said. “He congratulates Morgan Meyer and will be supporting all Republicans in November.”

Westcott thanked family members, friends and volunteers who gathered at an Uptown restaurant and told them he’d back Meyer in the general election. “I fully support Morgan Meyer because we all know the worst Republican is better than the best Democrat,” he said.

Update at 8:12 p.m.: Chart Westcott has conceded the House District 108 race on his personal Facebook page. His full Facebook post is below:

Folks, the early voting results are very clear. Morgan Meyer will be the GOP nominee for HD108. He will have my full support in November to take on Leigh Bailey. I’ll release a more formal statement soon, but for now know that I am grateful to all my friends and supporters. I am especially thankful for everyone who walked blocks, made calls, and gave money.

Update at 7:59 pm: After strong early voting returns, state legislative candidate Morgan Meyer appears poised to win the Republican nomination in House District 108. Staff writer Claire Cardona reports from the Meyer’s campaign watch party at Javier’s Gourmet Mexicano in Dallas:

After receiving early voting numbers, Meyer made his entrance into a dimly lit room to a round of applause from about 50 supporters.

He thanked his family and voters and told the crowd a story about a man whose wife had died between the primary and runoff elections.

“He said ‘I’m sorry my household can only deliver one vote this round,’” Meyer said. “But don’t you worry. She’s voting for you from heaven.”

Meyer said the man grabbed his hand and said, “Don’t ever forget character is key in a campaign.”

In a nod to his opponent Chart Westcott’s campaign tactics, Meyer said he considers three things about a candidate when voting: “who you are, what you believe in, and what you’re going to build of our community, not what you’re going to do to tear down your opponent. And the 73 percent we received today bears that fact.”

Update at 7:13 p.m.: First-time candidate Morgan Meyer has a decisive lead with about 73 percent of the early votes.

Original post: An ugly battle between two Dallas state legislative candidates will come to a close tonight after weeks of attack ads – some that propelled big-name backers to pull their support and triggered a misdemeanor charge for one candidate.

Morgan Meyer and Chart Westcott

Morgan Meyer, 39, a lawyer, and Chart Westcott, 29, a businessman, exchanged fire about each other’s trustworthiness, finances and drinking. The Republicans spent over $2.1 million combined in a fight for House District 108, a seat that covers much of Dallas’ wealthy core and the Park Cities.

Westcott derided Meyer’s conservative credentials, called his employer a liberal law firm, and labeled him a “drunk driver” in a mailer with a fake mug shot. He posted Meyer’s expunged records from the late 1990s in an online ad and now faces a misdemeanor charge in Virginia. Records show Meyer was acquitted in the two cases and a judge ordered the records expunged.

Meyer questioned the reason that Westcott has a probationary law license and pointed out his donation to California Democrat Gov. Jerry Brown in 2010.

Meyer fell just short of a majority in the March primary to avoid a runoff. After Westcott’s second place finish, he hired Matt Langston as campaign manager and Jeff Roe as general consultant, the political architects behind businessman Don Huffines’ primary upset of veteran state Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas.

The runoff also became a rematch for the campaign managers. Meyer’s campaign manager, Mari Woodlief of Allyn Media, ran Carona’s campaign.

Dallas Rep. Dan Branch vacated the seat to run for attorney general. The Democratic nominee in the district is Leigh Bailey, a lawyer.

Stay tuned for updates.

Sen. Deuell challenges Texas Right to Life over “slanderous” ads

State Sen. Bob Deuell of Greenville and a leading anti-abortion group are sparring this week over a negative radio commercial that the group is airing against Deuell’s re-election bid in his North Texas senate district. Deuell filed a cease-and-desist demand letter with multiple radio stations that have been running the ad by Texas Right to Life, asserting it contains false and defamatory statements.

The commercial alleges that Deuell, a family physician, “turned his back on life and on disabled patients” in sponsoring an end-of-life bill last year that passed the Senate but failed in the House. The ad also raised hospital “death panel” claims previously used by the group against Deuell and his legislation.

The Texas Catholic Conference and Catholic Bishops of Texas, who supported Deuell’s bill, have debunked the claims. They said that Texas Right to Life “has tried to stoke fear through ridiculous claims of non-existent death panels and assertions that doctors are secretly trying to kill patients. Both claims are absurd.” The Catholic Conference also ripped Texas Right to Life for spreading “fabrications” about the position of Catholics on the issue.

Deuell, who said his bill would have given patients and families new safeguards and lengthened the time to find a new facility when treatment for an ailing patient ends, attached a letter from the Texas Catholic Conference to his cease-and-desist letter. Deuell said other groups that will corroborate the “false and slanderous nature” of the ads are the Texas Alliance for Life, Christian Life Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention and Texas Medical Association.

Texas Right to Life responded to Deuell’s action by saying it was “alerting voters that Deuell’s allegiance is to the medical lobby and not to families and their ailing ones. That’s why he is trying intimidate RTL with baseless legal threats.” The group is backing retired businessman Bob Hall of Edgewood against Deuell in the May 27 runoff in Senate District 2, which includes eastern Dallas County.