Thursday, January 28, 2010
Link up to Rose, Backus campaigns
We have an interesting race forming in the March 2 Democratic primary for State Representative, District 45. You can follow the campaigns of incumbent State Rep. Patrick Rose here: http://www.patrickrose.com/ and his challenger Andrew Backus here: http://www.backus2010.com/
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22 comments:
I am voting for Andrew Backus. He is an intelligent man who is not some smooth special interest politician who never worked a real day in his life.
Call him a one issue candidate (water) or point out that he is running because he has a grudge against Rose. Even if it is true, so what. From what I hear, he was back stabbed by Rose, so who can blame him. He is respected everyone who has worked with him.
It is time for a change. Besides, Rose will eventually become a Republican and probably do quite well. With his father's money, he will land squarely on his feet. I suspect Rose has achieved his political objectives just by looking at his special interest money.
A change in this office of state representative would be good for Democrats and all the people of the district. Backus offers a breath of fresh air and new ideas. Rose's baggage is beginning to weigh us all down.
Yeah, a change is always good, so maybe we'll get some fresh blood on the Hays Trinity Groundwater District as well, to turn out those inbred special interests that has no interest in seeing anyone but their clique have an opinion.
Oh yeah, Andy Backus was one of those wasn't he? Neat website to Andy. Is that a Charles O'Dell special? Looks like his handy-work writing your blog, speeches, and talking points. I just don't understand it, why doesn't Dr. O'ding-dong run? He is obviously your mouthpiece Andy. But who says you wouldn't make a good puppet? With Charles and his special interests, if you should happen to win, you will be just another cog in the machine. It will take your soul, and you will be no better than Rose.
If Backus is such a good Democrat then why has he voted in so many Republican primaries?
No. 4, I guess you could say he's bipartisan in his voting preferences. Would you mind providing a link to your info source? And what of Rose's voting record?
I went to the Elections Office in San Marcos to research every candidate on the primary ballot and I encourage all voters to do the same. There are free computers set up for searching voting records of every person in the county and I found the information to be fascinating. It's interests me to know which candidates have been involved in the past and what their alliances are. Rose's record is completely Democrat.
Instead of focusing on party affiliation, why don't you just look at the behavior of the candidates.
Painting Backus as a one issue candidate is a little bit of an understatement. Apparently he is completely comfortable with ignoring any type of constitutional limitation on the authority of government under the pretext of conserving water "for the people".
He's demanded the power to go onto your property without your permission, without a warrant, and without probable cause to look for possible "violations" of "rules" that he promotes. Some would recognize that as an unlawful search. Andrew just wants to redefine property rights so that he no longer has to observe your right to exclude him from your property absent consent or a warrant.
He's demanded "transfer fees" payable to HTGCD if you sell property with a well on it. Neither the property nor the well are the property of HTGCD. Morever, you are not being permitted to transfer what you own. In addition to the transfer fee, Andrew sought elimination of exempt wells. When you sell, the buyer would have to come groveling to Andrew for a permit. Yet Andrew saw no unconstitutional taking with transfer fees, loss of exempt status, or the imposition of a discretionary permit requirement for the new buyer to be able to produce water for his own consumption.
Nope, Andrew wants you to have to buy your water from a central water system or some other commercial water supplier like AquaTex. Being forced to purchase water in such a fashion puts money in the coffers of HTGCD and AquaTex to the detriment of the voting residents.
HTGCD wants more money from production fees at citizen's expense and AquaTex would like to sell as much water as they possibly could. AquaTex is a for-profit water utility you know. Both of these objectives are wholly contrary to conservation. Let's also not forget that AquaTex systems over near Wimberley lose something like 40% of the water taken out of the ground. 40%. Sounds like the type of system that Andrew supports is actually wasteful of groundwater. But hey, HTGCD gets paid for the water produced with that system whereas HTGCD wouldn't be able to collect fees from residential wells. Sounds like HTGCD's policies actually promote waste in practice.
Andrew's policies have been designed to create a regime for the benefit of very few - namely the HTGCD Board members and owners of water utilities. Unlike Andrew, Patrick doesn't promote waste and he certainly doesn't promote such complete derogation of individual rights for the benefit of private companies as Andrew has consistently promoted. Andrew's beef with Rose is because Rose wasn't willing to give Andrew the power to be a tyrant that Andrew sought under the pretext of conserving water.
No doubt that Andrew would fit in well at the legislature if the registered voters of this area are foolish enough to elect him. I wouldn't allow party affiliation labels get in the way of deciding who you believe is going to be a better advocate for the individuals of Hays County.
We just got off the phone with the Hays County Elections Office. We were informed that those computers can only access voter registration information, not primary voting records. You actually have to ask for the voting histories of individual voters. We asked about Rose and Backus. We were told Rose has voted in "every" Democratic primary in HC since 2006, so that's two elections – '06 and '08. Backus voted in the Republican primary in '04 and the Democratic primary in '06.
Thank you RoundUp for clarifying more misrepresentations about Backus' voting record.
And could Anonymous 1 stop your anti-social malcontent bashing of government. In fact, if you quit blaming government for your child abuse, I will try to quit blaming Republicans for my depression.
Also, for your right wingnut phrase "inbred special interests", about Backus, that is much better than what you are: just plain inbred.
On the other hand, I like the comments and facts (if they are accurate) from the Anonymous just above RoundUp. Those are potentially valid criticisms of Backus that should be checked out for validity -- if voters want a well rounded picture and not just to vote against Rose because he is Rose. However, some these Backus criticisms sound extreme, so make sure you don't just believe it outright. Research is key.
Voting in primaries means squat. I have voted in Democratic and in GOP primaries to push for or against a particular candidate.
Better to view Rose's voting history in the House of Representatives, where you will see he mostly voted with his GOP constituents and especially with and for Rick Perry and then Speaker Tom Craddick.
Rose has NOT be "a good Democrat" at all.
Not that I care about that. I am a registered member of the GOP BUT I vote for the best candidate without concerning myself re: the party affiliation.
This November I will vote for Backus as I am sick of Rose's inability to work in the best interests of the community. Rose is a true lifetime politician, rather than community oriented.
Pay to play
The young master Patrick Ro$e has received the following pay from the Texas taxpayers $7200 per year or $14,400 per term (two years) plus $100 per day while the legislature is in session.
Ro$e has also received $70,000 from “Swiftboat Bob” Perry and $93,749.50 from “Saltlick Scott” Roberts.
What did they get for their payments and what did taxpayers receive?
From Ro$e's website:
"Help Patrick in his battle against the special interests and put an end to checkbook politics."
Is this a split personality,a misprint or misunderstanding?
I think that he doesn't need help with checkbook politics/pay to play, he's got that down pretty well.
Act For Texas Classroom Teachers Association
"TCTA supports Perry's decision to decline RTTT funds
TCTA supports the decision of Gov. Perry and Commissioner Scott to decline to seek funds under the federal Race to the Top program. From our perspective, seeking these grant funds would be a classic “be careful what you wish for” situation. Texas public schools would face significant policy shifts, concessions, and related costs if we were granted the limited, one-time funds available under the RTTT program."
Ro$e received $15,750 from this group, what did they receive? Is this what we get, a Democrat aligned with this type of group? Is this what you want?
‘Swiftboat Bob’ Perry’s Hillco Pac gave young master Ro$e $15,000, for what? What’d the voters get?
Realtor Ro$e took $36,000 from the Texas Association of Realtors PAC. What did they receive and what did you get?
Correction:
Ro$e received $56,000 from the Texas Assn of Realtors PAC NOT $36,000. (Sorry about the error)
They must be getting their money's worth.
I agree. In his 2 terms what has Patrick Rose actually done for the majority of people he is supposed to serve?
I also agree that Rose has played politics very well by supporting those in charge, e.g., Rick Perry and Tom Craddick and of course, those who have provided large contributions.
That is what politics has become here and throughout the nation; however, Rose was fresh out of college. He was supposed to be the "new blood" we all were waiting for.
Rose is nothing more than a smooth talking mini version of Rick Perry, and lord knows we don't need another one of those.
I also will vote for Backus simply because it's time for a change. Rose is just another sell-out.
It is getting harder to find candidates who truly want to create positive change for our community.
I also will vote for candidates other than the incumbents running and I hope that Hays County residents will do the same.
Jeff Barton, Will Conley, Debbie Ingalsbe, Karen Ford and Liz Sumter just can NOT seem to do the jobs we hired them to do.
We need to vote in candidates who will work together and move Hays County in a better direction.
We need more diligent and ethical commissioners. Why is that so hard to do?
Vote against incumbents! Get rid of the deadwood and special interest politicians!
Throwing out all the incumbent bums has a nice ring, but it is not a cure all strategy. Newcomers can also make a pretty quick mess of things in the two years or four years of their first terms.
I am concerned about 2 newcomer candidates for county judge. One is a medical doctor. Unless he has announced that he will resign as a doctor if elected, I can't see how he could spend full time as the county judge, much less provide any kind of informed leadership. Our county judge must be ON TOP of every local issue, especially in these times.
The other newcomer candidate is a professional in the real estate business. Will she be our very own Sarah Palin? Elect her if you want to give the homebuilders association and developers the keys to the front door.
Ro$e is actually owned by Texans For Lawsuit Reform PAC by the tidy sum of $141,574. This PAC is all about protecting the corporate interest at all costs over the interest of the public. A Texan's life gets cheaper by every action that they take.
For those that wanted evidence of the policies Backus promoted, an upload capability for this forum would be nice.
Mr. Rose,
Our Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District is one of only a few districts in the entire state which does not have the Chapter 36 provisions of the Texas Water Code granted to it. This is because when the groundwater districts were first
established by the Legislature, the then Hays County judge and commissioners wanted a weak groundwater district. Since that time our groundwater district
has pleaded with you to press the legislature to grant Chapter 36 rights to it. You have consistently refused. With water issues so important to this area, why have you declined to help our groundwater district?
Interesting timeline:
Sept. 7, 2007 - Scott Roberts gives $23,412 to Patrick Rose's campaign
Sept. 28, 2008 - Scott Roberts gives $24,040 to Patrick Rose's campaign
April 27, 2009 - Patrick Rose files House Bill 4825 to create a single-member taxing district for Salt Lick Restaurant (Scott Roberts).
I'd rather take my chance with "newcomers" and get rid of the current known.
If the newcomers don't work out, then replace them too.
It's one of the few ways we have some control over our leadership.
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