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Obama holds phone conference for Wendy Davis and Texas Democrats

Wendy Davis was flanked by her father and her daughters during her 2012 victory speech in Fort Worth.

Wendy Davis was flanked by her father and her daughters during her 2012 victory speech in Fort Worth. (File 2012)

President Barack Obama participated in a tele-conference call this morning with thousands of Texas Democrats, joined by governor nominee Wendy Davis and lieutenant governor nominee Leticia Van de Putte.

The president urged participants to get out and vote, warning Democratic apathy would leave Republicans dominating statewide offices.

Republican Greg Abbott, whose campaign ads have tried to link the unpopular president directly to Davis, jumped on the connection.

“In the final hours of the election, President Obama is going all in for Sen. Davis, making a personal appeal to push their shared agenda of bigger government, more regulations, higher taxes and fewer jobs,” said Abbott spokesman Matt Hirsch.

The Abbott campaign has been running statewide TV ads for weeks that portray Obama as governor in the event Davis won the office. The two have not appeared together in public.

On the phone call, billed as a electronic town hall meeting, were also former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk and Houston Sen. Rodney Ellis.

The phone call was a motivator for Democrats to get out and vote, said Davis spokesman Zac Petkanas.

“The goal in an election is to get more of your supporters out to the polls than the other guy’s,” said Petkanas. “That’s what this call was desigend to do and we trust it will.”

Hillary Rodham Clinton endorses Davis, Van de Putte

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton campaigns for Maryland Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, during a rally Thursday at the University of Maryland. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday endorsed the Democratic women running for Texas’ top two offices, gubernatorial aspirant Wendy Davis and lieutenant governor candidate Leticia Van de Putte.

Clinton, who is weighing a bid for the Democrats’ presidential nomination in 2016, applauded Davis for running a “tough, strong campaign” against Republican Greg Abbott.

“That’s no surprise, because Wendy has shown us time and time again that she never backs down, whether she’s fighting for Texas school children or working to create an economy that works for all Texans,” Clinton is quoted as saying in a Davis campaign graphic.

Clinton said Van de Putte, who is locked in a tough race with fellow state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, advocates for society’s most vulnerable.

“Leticia Van de Putte always demonstrates the courage to speak up for those who do not have a voice,” Clinton is quoted as saying in a Van de Putte campaign graphic. “She has bold ideas and initiatives that honor veterans, respect women, and value education. She leads with a sense of family and community.”

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:

The great two-thirds rule debate has begun

Sen. John Whitmire, the dean of the Texas Senate (2008 AP Photo/Harry Cabluck)

Update at 4:00 p.m.: Checked tape, made minor changes to Whitmire’s and Nelson’s quotes.

Original item at 11:29 a.m.: The Texas Senate has begun its expected debate over whether to abandon a rule that for many decades has protected partisan, geographic and racial-ethnic minorities.

At a briefing on taxes for new Senate budget writers Wednesday, the chamber’s longest-serving member, Houston Democrat John Whitmire, launched a wry if somewhat backhanded defense of the “two-thirds rule.”

It can protect from attack things highly valued by rural senators, such as an exemption of agricultural equipment from the sales tax, Whitmire said at a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee.

The rule requires two-thirds of senators to agree before a bill can be taken up on the Senate floor.

Earlier this year, GOP lieutenant governor candidate Dan Patrick promised to reduce the influence of Democratic senators by weakening the rule and reducing the number of committees they chair. Patrick is a Houston senator.

On Wednesday, Whitmire interrupted a presentation by the comptroller’s office to discuss the sales-tax agricultural exemption.

He called it the “largest, broadest exemption we have.” Whitmire said urban tradesmen could view it as unfair, given they pay tax when they buy vehicles and equipment needed in their work. But the ag exemption has worked well, he said.

Then came the caveat.

“To preserve it, we need to make sure our rural members have a place at the table,” Whitmire said.

Senate Finance Committee Chairwoman Jane Nelson (2009 AP Photo/Harry Cabluck)

Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, said the Legislature tightened administration of the ag exemption in recent years. Beneficiaries have to attest they are engaged in food and fiber production, he said.

Whitmire, though, said that in the next revenue crunch, it and all other exemptions could be reviewed. The state may again face “challenges to find sufficient revenue,” putting the ag exemption at risk, he warned.

“The rural members should be mindful that the Senate rules currently allow them to block any consideration of repealing that,” he said.

Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, interjected, “You talking about the two-thirds rule?”

Whitmire replied, “That would probably be the No. 1 thing that would come to my mind.”

A few minutes later, members of the panel began raising questions about the regressive effects of higher sales tax. Democrats mentioned Patrick’s proposal to decrease local school property taxes, perhaps by adding a penny or two to the state’s 6-1/4-cent sales tax.

Finance Committee Chairwoman Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, quickly cut them off, though.

She noted that higher sales tax is just one way to pay for property tax relief.

“Many of us would like to reduce property taxes,” Nelson said. “We’re going to look at a lot of different possibilities.”

Miles and miles of Texas as Van de Putte finishes quest

Leticia Van de Putte, at San Antonio rally last week (Robert T. Garrett)

Democratic lieutenant governor hopeful Leticia Van de Putte had a shaky launch to her 6,000-mile, 30-city bus tour last week: Last Thursday, on the first full day of the tour, the bus broke down, just south of Falfurrias.

It didn’t faze the candidate, though. Van de Putte, a 24-year veteran state legislator who comes from a large family, is very comfortable amid frenzied activity by her aides, crowds small and large, and the zero privacy that attends traveling with documentary filmmakers and reporters on your bus. For background on her family, and a 1945 act of religious piety by her great-grandmother, which she says motivates her, see this story I had in Sunday’s paper. It ran as a sidebar to this overview of the race, by colleague Terrence Stutz and me.

Also, here are some photos I took in my two days with her last week. If Republican rival Dan Patrick, whose spokesman last week said he has no plans for a bus tour, changes his mind, we’ll try to hop aboard. Patrick, though, doesn’t share his schedule with the news media, so don’t hold your breath.

Top row, left: On stage in San Antonio, looking over her shoulder; right, the spot where the bus broke down. 2nd row, left, rope line in Edinburg, with actress Eva Longoria in sunglasses; in Corpus Christi, with sister Rosanne "Sonny" Valenzuela on her left and two Wesley Reed supporters. 3rd row, left, San Antonio rope line, with mother Belle San Miguel shown just above candidate's head, and Longoria to right; speaking at UT Pan American, with Tejano music star "Little Joe" Hernandez in black T shirt that says, "I Just Look Illegal." Bottom row, left, biting her tongue in Edinburg; right, along rope line in San Antonio, greeting two little girls. (Robert T. Garrett)

Wendy Davis denies avoiding President Obama and says she would be “thrilled” if he came to Texas

While some Democrats have avoided President Obama, Democrat Wendy Davis says “I’ve never backed away” from him and would be “thrilled” if he came to Texas to campaign for her gubernatorial bid. Asked today whether she has asked Obama to campaign with her, Davis said no. “I imagine he’s busy doing other things,” she told reporters.

Wendy Davis tells campaign volunteers in Austin early-voting figures look good for Democrats (Wayne Slater)

The issue flared earlier in the campaign when Obama, who is not popular in Texas, came to the state but Davis was campaigning elsewhere. They did meet once in Austin during a 50th anniversary symposium on the Civil Rights Act. But the meeting was private and the media weren’t invited to photograph them together.

In several states, Republican candidates in senate and governor races have sought to link their Democratic opponents to Obama and his policies. Democrats have pushed back, in some cases declining to say even whether they’d voted for him for president. Republican Greg Abbott is running an ad with their pictures side-by-side. Asked about the president, Davis denied she’s tried to avoid him.

“I would be thrilled if he or the Clintons would want to come and help,” she told reporters Wednesday at a campaign event in Austin. “I was pleased that Michelle Obama was willing to record a radio ad for me. And I’m very honored to have their support and the support of so many prominent Democrats across this country.”

Abbott was pressing the message Wednesday that Davis was an Obama acolyte. At a campaign rally in San Antonio with actor Chuck Norris, Abbott told GOP supporters a vote for Davis a vote for Obama policies.

At the Austin event, Davis criticized Abbott for refusing to say whether he would have opposed interracial marriage had he been attorney general years ago when some states banned it. Abbott has said his job as attorney general is to defend the law on the books, not pick and choose what he wanted to defended. Abbott is in court fighting a challenge to the state’s ban on gay marriage. Asked last week if he would have defended the interracial marriage ban in the same away when it was on the books, Abbott refused to answer, saying the question was hypothetical.

Davis: “I was just shocked that in the year 2014, Greg Abbott refused to answer the question of whether he would defend a ban on interracial marriage. We’ve moved decades beyond that. It was a simple question, with a simple answer. And the fact that he won’t answer it raises concerns.”

As Election Day draws near, Alameel spending slows

David Alameel raised over $24,000 this quarter. (LM Otero/AP)

WASHINGTON – Democratic challenger David Alameel pumped another half-million of his own funds into his effort to unseat Sen. John Cornyn.

He raised only about $24,000 between July 1 and Sept. 30, according to his latest campaign finance report.

That leaves unchanged the fact that Alameel has self-funded the vast majority of his campaign. In the last three-month period he chipped in over $19,000. He also loaned the campaign $475,000, bringing the outstanding loan balance to $1,225,000.

Since filing to run last December, the Dallas dentist and investor has spent over $5.5 million of his own money, including the outstanding loans.That accounts for nearly all of the campaign’s budget.

Little of that has come during the general election. Since winning the Democratic primary runoff on May 27 against Kesha Rogers, Alameel’s spending has slowed considerably.

FEC reports filed since the runoff show less than $700,000 in campaign expenditures, for such things as staff, events, signs and shirts.

The campaign had $67,530 cash on hand at the end of September.

Cornyn’s most recent financial report is not yet available.Through the end of June he had raised $11 million.

The only debate between Cornyn and Alameel will air on Saturday at 10 p.m. on Univision stations in Texas, in Spanish.

Did Wendy Davis voter-registration efforts boost numbers in Texas? Survey says – not so much

Wendy Davis’ political blueprint depends in large part on an getting new voters registered, motivated and to the polls in the November governor’s race. Davis and allies at Battleground Texas promise an unprecedented voter-turnout program. Battleground Texas - which acts as Davis’ field operation - is the product of former Obama campaign operatives who are pledging to turn red-state Texas blue. My colleague Gromer Jeffers Jr. had a story Sunday about how both sides preparing for extensive voter outreach.

Getting new voters begins with registering new people. When the secretary of state last week announced a record-high 14 million Texans are registered to vote, Battleground Texas trumpeted that number as evidence their efforts are working. Not so much, it turns out, according to the actual numbers.

For example, voter-registration in the top five Democratic-rich South Texas counties where Davis expects to do well is up 5.8 percent from the last time there was a governor’s race – slightly better than the average statewide. But voter registration in five top GOP-rich suburban counties is up a whopping 13.8 percent.

The Davis camp hopes for a good showing in Dallas County and Harris County, especially among Democratic-leaning black and Hispanic voters. Dallas County voter registration is up about 5 percent from four years ago. Harris County is up over 6 percent. And voter registration in Travis County where Battleground Texas has a strong presence is up 8.4 percent.

But the real voter-registration increases this election are in suburban GOP strongholds like Fort Bend County (17.5 percent), Collin County (14.3 percent), Rockwall County (12.9 percent), Denton County (11.6 percent) and Williamson County (14.2 percent).

Does that mean Battleground Texas has failed to deliver on its much-ballyhooed promise to register new voters? Not necessarily. In the big South Texas counties they say they’ve targeted, the increase in registered voters is a lot better this year than four years earlier. For example, in Hidalgo County, voter registration is up 7.5 percent from 2010. Four years earlier, when Democrat Bill White was on the ballot, voter registration grew 5.9 percent in from 2006 to 2010. The same thing for Cameron County, where voter registration this time has grown twice as much as it did between 2006 and 2010, the last governor’s race.

Also, registration is only part of the picture. There are lots of voters who are registered but don’t vote — particularly Hispanic voters that Davis needs to win. The Davis political team promises to turn out a record number of those voters – in effect, to change the historic election patterns in Texas. Whether that happens, we’ll know on Election Day. In the meantime, word among some Davis allies is that Battleground Texas might be preparing to defend itself by suggesting they did their work, she was just a bad candidate.

Democrat calls for reforms in comptroller’s office

AUSTIN—Mike Collier said Tuesday that he’s the candidate to reform and “end corruption” at the state’s comptroller office by enforcing checks and balances in the agency.

He used incentive programs such as the Texas Enterprise Fund and the Major Events Trust Fund to highlight his plans, which include the return of an independent audit division in the office and stripping the agency of its management of certain incentive programs.

Republican candidate Glenn Hegar has said he also supports returning the audit review to the comptroller’s office.

Recent independent reports revealed both funds had been abused by top executive offices in the state.

“When you have these sorts of things happen in the corporate world, people get fired…and you reform and re-engineer,” Collier, an accountant, said.

“We’re going to go in there and reform it, shake it up and design systems and processes…to make sure that when money leaves the state it’s legal and properly authorized,” he said.

Last month, the first independent audit of the Texas Enterprise Fund found that the governor’s office awarded $222 million for job creation to companies that never submitted applications or promises to create jobs. The state auditor report—commissioned by the Legislature—came more than a decade after the fund’s creation.

“Who is our financial watchdog in Texas if we’re just now finding out about this?” he said.

The Texas Performance Review team needs to return to the comptroller’s office in order to investigate such funds in a manner that is not at the whim of the Legislature, Collier said, adding that the Legislature is too persuaded by politics.

Texas Performance Review, which Collier said would be renamed to the Texas Accountability Team, began in 1991 under the John Sharp administration in order to audit agencies and eliminate waste in government. In 2003, the Legislature moved the responsibility to the Legislative Budget Board.

Throughout his campaign and again Tuesday, Collier called for the division to be reinstated in the comptroller’s office.

“There really needs to be an independent, roving team that can go in and inspect these things and not wait to be directed by the Texas Legislature,” he said at a press conference in Austin.

Sen. Glenn Hegar, the Republican nominee in the race, voted in favor of moving the Texas Performance Review to the LBB, but has said he supports moving it back to the comptroller’s office.

Collier also suggested moving the Major Events Trust Fund outside of the office to avoid conflicts of interest. The comptroller should revamp its accounts payable system to ensure that “T’s are crossed and I’s are dotted” on applications and the office of the attorney general should periodically audit the comptroller’s office, he said.

Early voting runs from Oct. 20 to Oct. 31. The election is Nov. 4.

Former Judge Harley Clark dies; issued first major Texas school finance ruling

Former state District Judge Harley Clark of Austin, who issued the first major court ruling against Texas in its long-running series of school finance lawsuits, died Thursday at the age of 78. Clark was perhaps better know as the UT-Austin student cheerleader who introduced the “Hook ‘em Horns” hand sign at a pep rally on campus prior to a football game against TCU in 1955. The sign has been used by Longhorn fans ever since to cheer on their sports teams. Clark, who maintained strong ties to the university his whole life, passed away at his farm near Dripping Spring, according to the UT-Austin news service. He had been battling cancer.

The first major school finance lawsuit filed against Texas in state court was assigned to Clark, who heard testimony from attorneys for poor school districts over several weeks in early 1987. That summer, Clark ruled that the school finance system was unconstitutional and inequitable, and he gave the Legislature until Sept. 1, 1989 to fix the problems. Although he was initially overruled by an appellate court, the Texas Supreme Court upheld his decision in the fall of 1989 by a vote of 9-0.

That led to a series of special sessions in 1990 that pitted Republican Gov. Bill Clements against the Democratic-led Legislature. After several failed attempts marked by Clements vetoing tax bills passed by lawmakers, Clements finally gave in and signed into law what was then the largest tax increase in state history, including an increase in the state sales tax. The legal battle would go on, but Clark’s decision was the first to bring relief for the state’s poorest school districts, many of whom had thousands of dollars less to spend per student each year than wealthier districts around the state.

Lawyers and others who took part in the school finance trial in 1987 remembered that Clark adorned the front of his courtroom with drawings by his young children, a reminder that the case was about the schoolchildren of Texas. Clark retired as a judge in 1989 and worked for the Vinson & Elkins law firm for 10 years before retiring to his 40-acre Dripping Springs farm where, according to the UT-Austin news service, he produced “gourmet-quality vegetables and herbs” for area restaurants. On the Hook ‘em Horns sign, the young Clark was initially cautioned by the dean of students, who worried the signal might be misinterpreted. Clark replied, “Dean, you need to look at the bright side of things. Instead of our mascot being a longhorn, it could have been a unicorn.”