Today, Bill Dingus scored a victory inside a Travis County District Court. Sure, it was a Travis County judge deciding on a Midland election, but Dingus contends this case was about voters’ rights to have a choice. Judge Margaret Cooper ruled that Dingus could stay on the ballot for November and run against Rep. Tom Craddick, who has been in the legislature for 40 years.

The controversy was over Dingus’ city council position, which he held when he formally announced his run for the Democratic seat in the election. The Republican Party of Texas then wrote a note to the TX Democratic Party, which brought the issue to Federal court and lost. However, this time Dingus got involved and sued the Democratic Party (that’s the only group he could sue) and got a “liberal” Travis County judge to rule in his favor (according to the Republican party). So, it looks like Craddick may have some competition, but in a Republican majority district, today may be Dingus’ only victory.

Craddick’s office response: “The speaker expected to have an opponent and looks forward to campaigning this fall.”

I know this isn’t ultra-political, but I am still  confounded when I think of police chief Art Acevedo’s idea of having police take your blood if they suspect you of drinking and driving. In the story one of our reporters did today, Acevedo said “people can deny a breathalizer all they want, but we will aggressively pursue a search warrant” or something to that effect. I will be utterly shocked if there is not some public outcry to this new policy. Surely, in a world where people are worried about online surveillance and phone tapping, they will not just silently agree with being forced to part with their bodily fluids.

Check out the story and tell me what you think!!!

Word has it Kinky is looking to make another run for Governor in 2010.. if he can make enough money to support his campaign. Hutchison has been all over the airwaves as well..not talking about her possibility of going for gov, but talking about everything else under the sun. This could be a lead-up to an announcement soon. We’ll see!

We’ve been hearing a lot about the vendor who sold controversial buttons at the Republican State Convention…buttons that asked if the White House would still be called the White House if Obama becomes president. So, I gave the button maker, Jonathan Alcox, a call. It turns out he makes buttons, stickers, etc for both parties and in his estimation, with equally messages. Alcox says he meant nothing racist with his button and had gotten the idea from a cartoon in a newspaper.

“I only made 12 buttons to test them out,” he said. “And, I only sold four. Two were sold to journalists who were looking for a controversial story to bring out of the convention.”

Alcox says he’s sure paying the price for the 8 bucks he made on the buttons. The Texas Republican Party has banned him from all future conventions and they have banned him from the national convention.

“Those conventions are essentially my livelihood,” said Alcox. “I don’t understand why they are making such a big fuss over these buttons when I sold equally offensive buttons at the Democratic convention and nobody said a word. In fact, they sold out almost immediately.”

Obama said no thanks to 80 million public dollars and decided he will go it alone. His justification? It’s not that he can make more through private donations, but that it’s a broken system rife with underhanded ploys.

Well, not really but she’s not conceding yet. Looks like Clinton is angling for a VP position but the question is…would Obama even consider it? I’m torn on this one. On one hand, this has been such a long process and she does have a good portion of the voters that together, they may have a good chance as clinching a victory. However, as a newbie to the White House (if he wins) I don’t know how well the Clintons would do with taking orders from Obamarama.

I just got a chance to speak with a family that was reunited yesterday and returned to the ranch here in Eldorado today. Their children were the sweetest, cutest little kids and the couple seemed really nice. It’s so different to read books that say one thing about FLDS members and then see them in person. I’ve been told the children have no toys, but the parents’ truck was filled with toys and bicycles. The little 9 year old boy, Russell, had braces with green rubber bands. They certainly look like happy kids but I guess you can never be sure unless you know what happens behind closed doors.

Meanwhile, we are on our last leg out here in windy, dusty West Texas. I’ve slept in every hotel and taken every road….they all seem to lead right back to the ranch. With our farmers tans, red noses and dust covered boots, I think we’re all ready to greet Austin once again.  

If you want to see the stories we’ve done out here, you can always check out www.kxan.com

See you back in Austin!

I never thought the road from San Angelo to Austin would become weathered from my tires, but I’m afraid to report it is. I knew this morning I had been in San Angelo too long when the lady at the starbucks knew me by name, the grandpa with his grandkid remembered me and when I walked out, I said hi to the newspaper man’s son. That ended up being the most exciting adventure of the day.

The rest of the day consisted of another several hours of hearings with very little accomplished.

However, an interesting incident did happen at Friday’s hearing. While Dan Jessop was at the 14 day hearing for his son who was born in Austin 2 weeks ago, CPS brought out pictures of Warren Jeffs with two of his child brides. They submitted these pics as evidence that Dan’s home is not a safe environment, since his sister was one of the brides. The pictures showed this 14 year old girl standing with Jeffs and in another picture she was kissing him. What shocked me the most from this is immediately following the hearing, court workers came out with copies of the pictures and knocked on all of our live trucks to deliver them. They GAVE us pics of an underage girl, in CPS custody for our news reports. The lady even told me to show the pic on Nancy Grace when I was on again. Considering we are not allowed to show pictures of children in CPS custody, I was a little surprised to be handed photos of a girl the state is alleging to be a victim of child sex abuse.

I thought it was a little strange, you?

My life has been so entrenched in covering the FLDS case that I’m starting to get confused as to what relates to politics and what doesn’t. My conclusion is: it is all politics. CPS is a state agency that reports to the governor. The governor also established a committee to oversee parental complaints about CPS. And, despite the “Department” (that’s how they refer to CPS in all of the status hearings) now being involved in the biggest child custody case in U.S. history, that committee hasn’t met in more than 6 months.

If you want to learn more about FLDS, I encourage you to check out some of the books written about the sect. Remember to take everything with a grain of a salt and many of the sources in these books may have extreme or sensational stories that aren’t applicable to all members. However, as this is all happening here in Texas and will most likely be a subject in the upcoming legislative session, you may be interested in getting some background information.

Stay tuned. There is a lot more to happen in this investigation.

Apparently, all the “liberal media and bloggers” have jumped on the rasmussen reports of Cornyn and Noriega in a tight race for Senate. So, the Cornyn camp is now appealing to voters to buck up and pitch in some cash to help him debunk the “myths.”

Here’s a snippet from the e-mail I received:

Please contribute $10, $25 or $50 to help debunk the myths our opponent and his liberal allies are trying to tell about Senator Cornyn.

The facts are clear, the extreme left is energized and unscrupulous, and our opponent is shamelessly aligned with them and will say and do anything it takes to gain much needed relevance and resources.

Your contribution of $10, $25 or $50 will go a long way towards setting the record straight. It will also send a loud and clear message to national Democrats that Texans won’t fall for their dirty tricks, deceit and deviousness.

***If you would rather receive some cash than give it out, see a Cornyn post below that offers $250 bucks for knocking on a few doors.