Mayor Explains Hard Decision on Rejecting $750,000 Settlement

Thursday night Mayor Lee Leffingwell and the Austin city council, in a 4-3 vote, rejected a settlement proposal for $750,000 with the family of a man slain by Austin police officer Leonardo Quintana.  The shooting, which happened in May 2009 outside of an east Austin apartment complex, killed Nathaniel Sanders and injured Sir Lawrence Smith.  Officer Quintana approached a vehicle occupied by Sanders and Smith, and it was believed Sanders was sleeping.  But as Quintana got closer to the vehicle, the officer believed Sanders to have woken and that he was reaching for a gun.  That's when Quintana fired the shots that killed Sanders.

The event sparked outrage and a continuing heated relationship between members of the community and the Austin Police Department.  Earlier this summer, a settlement proposal reached the desks of the Austin legal department.  The terms of the settlement would give the Sanders family money in exchange for the family to drop the city and Quintana from a lawsuit.  Thursday, Leffingwell expressed his opposition to the settlement, but acknowledged several city council members supported the settlement.

The council eventually rejected the proposal, but by a very narrow margin.  Friday, Leffingwell released a statement explaining his decision and why he wants the case to be decided by a Travis County jury.  Here is Leffingwell's response to the community (photo from Statesman.com).

Last night the Austin City Council voted 4-3 to allow the legal case surrounding the death of Nathaniel Sanders II to proceed to trial.  I joined the majority in voting against the proposed settlement.

This was perhaps the most difficult decision that this Council has faced over the past year, and it’s easy for me to see how reasonable people would disagree about the best path forward.   I don’t condemn anyone's point of view, or their vote.

This was a tragedy for the Sanders family, and a tragedy for Austin as a whole. Unfortunately, nothing that we do is going to change that.   That much is simple.

But the facts of the case are complex, as evidenced by the different conclusions that different people and groups have reached after reviewing the facts as we know them.

I think it was reasonable, from the taxpayer's perspective, for the city’s legal team to have recommended a settlement that they believed could be less than the possible cost to taxpayers to move forward with litigating the case.  I understood the business case.

I also understood the emotional appeal of settling.  Some have argued passionately that this settlement would have helped to heal the Sanders family, and I do not discount the importance of that.   My heart goes out to this family.  If there was something meaningful that I could do to make this situation better for them, I would do it.

But ultimately, after thinking and talking about it for many months, I believe that what's most important in all of this is to understand as best we can exactly what happened that night, so that we can then do everything possible to prevent it from happening again.

It would be a huge failure on our part not to learn from this tragedy.  That should begin with determining, as completely and as impartially as possible, exactly what happened.  I believe the most appropriate place to do that is in the courtroom, in front of a jury.

I’m fully aware that my decision was hurtful to some in the community, and I regret that.  I would like to have been able to make a decision last night that would have perhaps provided some immediate relief to people who I know are suffering. 

But I believe that our larger and longer-term responsibility – as difficult as it may be emotionally – is to make a full, fair and final determination about exactly what happened, so that we can then get on to the work of trying to keep it from happening again.

Mayor Pro Tem Mike Martinez Investigated by Texas Ethics Commission

Austin Mayor Pro Tem Mike Martinez, who is likely the most recognizable member - aside from the Mayor, Lee Leffingwell - of the city council, is being investigated by the Texas Ethics Commission.  According to a statement from Martinez, several complaints have surfaced alleging misuse of money.  Monday, Martinez released a statement to The Austin Citysphere and said openness is the most important to him, and promised a look into the complaint and quick action.

"On June 24, 2010, I was informed of a complaint initiated by a private citizen with the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) alleging misreporting on several of my campaign finance reports," Martinez began in the statement.  "The TEC processes all sworn complaints from private citizens and asks elected officials for a response – regardless of the basis or motivations for the complaint.

"We are in the process of examining that complaint and will take appropriate action on or before July 30 – the date requested by the Commission. While I am disappointed that there were any discrepancies seen in my disclosure, I am pleased that out of the over 600 contributions we received during the course of our campaign, our analysis shows only one correction necessary at this time.  Transparency is of vital importance to me, and I take this allegation, as I would with any allegation, seriously," said Martinez.

Bill White Supporters Drown Out Perry Spokesperson

Rick Perry spokesperson Mark Miner staged what was to be a last-minute press availability in front of Bill White's Austin headquarters today, only to be greeted with a throng of Bill White's supporters holding signs and chanting loud enough to keep Miner from being heard by reporters in attendance, including the Texas Tribune's Elise Hu, above.

Miner showed up with a generator in order to call attention to White's ties to a company he charged with providing generators in Houston in the wake of Hurricane Ike. White says he did not invest in the company, BTEC, until about a year after the storm hit.

The Score is Settled But Don't Look for Good Sports

The lesson this week could be a hugely ironic one.  Think back to little league and your team has just lost.  The coaches still make you line up and slap hands with your winning counterparts, all the while repeating "Good game" over and over.  It hurts, but it makes a good sport out of a little kid.

This week can be amounted to a game of t-ball.  The players here are members of the State Board of Education.  The teams are made of up the conservatives and the liberals.  15 members played hard ball with each other all week, finally ending up with a final score Friday to adopt new standards for 4.8 million kids in grades K-12 in a 9 to 5 vote.

Just don't expect each side to slap hands just yet.

The board's conservative bloc, which dominates the board, pushed forward with a vote despite many requests to delay until more research could be completed over the subject matter.  However, educators like mother-daughter team Linda and Monica Neely,  who sat in on the hearings this week, said this debate's been waging on for two years.  "It's not rushed," said Linda.  "What's rushed," she added, is the number of people speaking up at the last minute.

As reported by Dos Centavos, Arne Duncan, President Obama’s Secretary of Education, said, “Curricula should be written by educators who know the subject matter, know the standards and know what it takes to prepare our children for college and careers in the global economy.”

Instead, a board comprised of less than half of actual educators, adopted new standards for Texas elementary, middle and high school curricula.  Public reaction blamed controversial debate and so-called ignorance on the fact that the board simply did not know what it was voting on.

SBOE member Rick Agosto, D-San Antonio, expressed his outrage during the meeting, calling the board's behavior laughable and "embarrassing."  

"Take this power away from us," he said Friday.  "We're children playing in a shed full of knives.  I'm appalled by it."

The Changes

One standard largely adopted by the board's majority calls for high school students to learn about instances of institutional racism in American History.  Barbara Cargill, R-The Woodlands, said not all Americans should be linked to discrimination.  Another example of the board's curriculum amendments, which is said to also affect children outside of Texas because of the pull the state has with textbook publishers, added Thomas Jefferson back into high school World History textbooks.  He had previously been stricken from the list of Enlightenment thinkers and replaced with John Calvin. 

"Within ten minutes, we go in there and we change the whole political philosophy in writings.  I don't know what's going on in here!" said Agosto.

But Terry Leo, R-Spring, knew exactly what was going on, assured that she and her conservative colleagues would get the votes needed to pass the guidelines.  “The buck stops at the board," said Leo.  "I would ask that you (opposing members) consider that we’ve added more minorities than ever before, and more events involving minorities.”

Political web site Mother Jones lists some of the other changes, and you can read them by clicking here. 

Bill White, the Democratic candidate for Texas Governor, said the vote is going to have consequences not only inside school houses, but everywhere else, too.  

"When people see Texas as a place with political agendas in schools, it hurts our ability to attract entrepreneurs and new businesses," he said.

No immediate response about the curriculum guidelines could be found of Governor Rick Perry.

Everyone's Got a Laptop and a Twitter Account

The day's vote also went viral with web heads posting comments to Facebook and Twitter.   "SBOE makes me so embarrassed!  How to explain to out-of-state freinds that we're not all f***ing idiots!" wroter Twitter user pambaggett.  MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann also chimed in.  "Texas SBoE has decided that the Amendments to the Constitution shall be referred to as 'Yada-yada-yada'. 

More than half the day on Friday was spent on finishing amendments for high school curriculum requirements.  The vote, which began in the late afternoon, started with high school.  It passed, as did the subsequent vote for K-8th grade curriculum revisions, each with a 9 to 5 vote, with one abstention (the absence of Republican Geraldine Miller).  The vote follows party lines.

However, ultra-conservative board member Don McLeroy will be leaving his SBOE seat after being narrowly defeated in the March Republican primary against Robert Thomas Ratliff, who is running against Jeff McGee, a Libertarian, for McLeroy's District 9 spot in November.

Conservatives want to sway the board back to the right after they say liberals controlled the board for too many years.  The preceding statement may be why many believe the board's decisions are over-politicized.

Cast Your Vote

District 10's Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond, will not be returning either, as well as District 12's Geraldine Miller, a Republican, who, like McLeroy, did not win the March primary election.  Republican Ken Mercer in District 5 will face Rebecca Bell-Metereau, a Democrat.  Bob Craig, R-Lubbock, will face John Pekowski, a Libertarian. 

On the Democratic side, Agosto decided to step down from the board in District 3.  District 1's Rene Nunez of El Paso, will be running for re-election against Republican Carlos Charlie Garza.  In District 4, Lawrence A. Allen, Jr., D-Houston, is running unopposed.

Regret or Determination?

Mary Helen Berlanga, a Democrat from Corpus Christi, who tried like might to get the board to recognize key Hispanic figures in history, and who is the longest-serving member of the board (since 1982), may have a different opinion of her position after this.   To the Texas Tribune, she said, “I’m sorry I’m a part of this board.  What we have done, a classroom teacher would throw in the trash.  As for Hispanic kids, I feel worse.  I feel like I’ve let you down, more than two million kids in Texas schools.  When they go to college, they’ll learn the real information for the first time.  If you look at this history, you might as well say Hispanics don’t exist.”

Borlanga hasn't announced any plans to step down.  She's served 28 years on a board that's undoubtedly been through many ups and downs.  Borlanga may just wait for a new day at the State Board of Education.  "Wait 10 minutes and it'll change," goes the old adage of Texas weather.   The only difference - it'll be 10 years before the board takes up new standards on curriculum changes.

Kay Bailey Hutchison To Serve Out Senate Term

Kay Bailey Hutchison

Kay Bailey Hutchison will keep her seat in the United States Senate after she was defeated in a primary bid for the Republican nomination for governor. She previously said that she would resign her seat, first before the primary election, then after the primaries were decided.

According to the AP, a senior GOP official and a Senate aid confirmed that Hutchison would finish her third term in office, ending in 2012.

Last month, 20 Texas Republican House members signed a letter asking her to stay in the Senate. "We understand your desire to go home to Texas and spend more time with your family. But we hope you realize how necessary your continued service in the U.S. Senate is, for Texas and for our country, " the letter said.

The decision was announced officially in San Antonio this morning at a press conference with Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell and her fellow Texan Senator John Cornyn.

Several politicians from both the Republican and Democratic parties had been waiting to see whether or not Hutchison would stay with her previous announcements to step down. Democrats saw it as a possible win in a Senate seat they haven't held for 17 years, although Republicans would probably be favored to keep the seat.

Texas Gubernatorial Candidates Quiet After Primaries

The ads running on TV and the constant back-and-forth battle before the Texas primaries had the gubernatorial candidates very visible to the average voter.  But since hair care product guru and Democratic candidate Farouk Shami, and the senior U.S. Senator from Texas (who just may have used some of that hair care product herself) Kay Bailey Hutchison, were knocked out of the race, little has been said from either of the men vying for Texas' top job in November.  Oh, I just about forgot, businesswoman (or whatever she does) Debra Medina, a Republican candidate, also lost her primary run.  But who cares, really?

Incumbent Rick Perry, who is seeking a record third term as the Republican governor of Texas, and former Houston mayor and Democratic candidate Bill White, may just be reserving their resources for an all-out knock-out come closer to election time.  After all, given the attention spans of people in our social media savvy world today (Twitter and Facebook comments are fleeting afterall and we seem to only remember the comment that just scrolled by most times), it might be smart to hold off until the fall to begin the hardcore mud slinging.

According to Gov. Perry's web site, he has been quite busy as of late.  One of the biggest debates he's taken part in recently has been the one over "Obamacare," President Barack Obama's massive overhaul of the health care in America.  Gov. Perry, as well as Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, are joining forces to fight the legislation.  In fact, Abbott is hopping on the bandwagon with dozens of other Attorneys General in the U.S. to sue to federal government over the health care reform bill.

Perry is also busy touting Texas as the place where the economy is leaps and bounds above the rest of the nation, according to his web site, and where jobs are on the rise.  According to press releases from the Office of the Governor, Perry recently announced multiple job creation efforts worth millions of dollars from various economic incentive programs that will provide those who want to work the chance to earn a paycheck.

Meantime, Bill White's been busy, too... apparently.  This week, his web site says he called on Perry to
"urge his appointed Chair of the State Board of Education to send amendments back to the original curriculum review teams.  The State Board of Education (SBOE) recently voted on more than 100 amendments to social studies curriculum standards that will guide textbooks and classroom materials for years to come."

White calls the SBOE's move an overly political process.  "Individual school board members are no doubt sincere in their beliefs, and some of the changes can be debated by reasonable people.  But, under the leadership of another extreme Rick Perry appointee, the amendment process injected politics into our school books and classrooms," said White.  "That is a step in the wrong direction, requiring leadership from our Governor."

White also made a comment about his friend, Liz Carpenter, who recently passed away.  Carpenter was a journalist, humorist, author and speaker with close connections to the White House and several former Presidents.

"We will miss my friend, Liz Carpenter.  She had a unique ability to express her commitment to social justice in a light that sparkled with wit and humor," White said.  As a side note, a celebration of Carpenter's life will be held Friday, March 26, at the LBJ Auditorium at 10 a.m.

Both candidates are taking time to take care of business as they see fit, participating in their own worlds of worthiness when it comes to thinking each is best for the job of governor.  Ultimately, the decision will be made by voters.  The morale of the story right now is that the average person just isn't seeing the men we saw before the primaries, and the men I'm sure we'll get to know as the November general election approaches.  It's sort of like the season of Christmas.  There's a big build up (for Christmas or primaries as it were), then there's a huge emotional relief (the days following Christmas or the days after the primaries).  But then there's the next big holiday, which is debatable, and that equates to the November election.

Get ready for the build up all over again.  Politics in Texas, as our holidays, never get old.