Commentary has said it before. I don’t have a dog in the hunt involving the proposed vehicle-for-hire ordinance. I have just been watching the folks speak about it at City Hall.
Yesterday’s debate took an unusual turn. The measure was delayed until July 30 and in the meantime Council Members Larry Green and Brenda Stardig are going to get the parties – Yellow Cab, Uber, Lyft, and Limos – together for a mediation of sorts. The mediation initiative was hatched by Council Members Dwight Boykins and Dave Martin. From what I could hear the Mayor and Council member Steve Costello opposed the move.
I find it kind of odd that a measure that was put on the agenda by the Mayor, developed by the regulatory folks in her administration, has now been snatched away by City Council. They will take it from here.
There obviously isn’t a sense of urgency. Yellow Cab and the Limos are already doing business and so is Uber – illegally.
Happy 90th Birthday to President Bush 41 and be careful jumping out at 10,000 feet!
The World Cup starts today. The U.S. of A. hosted it in 1994. Who won the NL MVP Award in 1994?
Here is what my friend former Land Commissioner Garry Mauro said about the Wendy Davis campaign shake up:
“The conventional wisdom was the campaign wasn’t going anywhere and Wendy couldn’t win. She had to shake up the campaign and change the narrative.”
Before anyone gets mad at Garry for being honest, let me remind you that Garry has run and won statewide and the folks in charge of Team Davis haven’t.
Here is from the latest UT/Tribune poll:
“Abbott remains strong and this, in a lot of ways, confirms the strategy that we’ve seen from his camp: Leave well enough alone,” said Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin and co-director of the UT/TT Poll. “The Davis campaign seems to be not able to reverse the trend.”
Abbott has the support of 44 percent of the voters surveyed. Davis had 32 percent, Libertarian Kathie Glass had 3 percent, the Green Party’s Brandon Parmer had 1 percent. Another 3 percent chose “someone else,” and 17 percent said they had not formed an opinion.
And here is Burkablog on the shake up:
All I can say is, “It’s about time.” The Davis campaign has been a disaster. Precious days have been lost. Even so, money keeps coming in. Davis will be well funded for the fall, but she needs a staff that is better prepared on state issues.
Democrats have already started describing the Republican slate as the “Abbott, Patrick, Paxton ticket.” There is always a “be careful what you wish for” component to these races. Patrick in particular is a very shrewd operator who has widespread support from the conservative base. He is a dangerous opponent. Democrats who underestimate him do so at their peril.
The internal shakeup of the Davis campaign is in part a result of tension between the longterm objectives of Battleground Texas and the ability of Davis herself to identify a path to victory. Battleground is focusing on the future: turning Texas blue in 2016, 2018, and beyond. Davis must focus on the here and now. It’s silly to worry about 2016 in this election cycle. It can’t become an either/or proposition. Davis HAS to win now.
I have written earlier that this is probably the weakest Republican ticket in the post-2000 era. Abbott is a strong candidate, but Patrick’s ability to run the Senate has yet to be demonstrated, and Paxton, who has suffered from high-profile legal problems, could prove to be an embarrassment. Sid Miller is a disaster waiting to happen as agriculture commissioner. It’s hard to imagine him in a statewide office. The Democrats can only wait and hope for a meltdown by Republicans, but this is clearly their best opportunity in a long time.
Burkablog and Garry are as experienced as most in Texas politics. They know what they are talking about. The folks in charge need to step up their game. We are up against a weak field so there should be no excuses.
Here is from the ‘Stros website after last night’s win:
Astros manager Bo Porter began his postgame press conference Wednesday by stumping for left-hander Dallas Keuchel to make his first career All-Star team.
“If he’s not an All-Star, what is?” he said.
Keuchel, to his credit, isn’t worrying about any such accolades despite another terrific performance in which he held the D-backs to one run and four hits in eight innings and rode a pair of Chris Carter homers to his eighth win of the season, 5-1, at Minute Maid Park.
Jeff Bagwell of course won the 1994 NL MVP Award in the strike shortened season.
Commentary and Dante will make it to The Yard this evening and Drake will be there. In fact, our section is called the Drake Section – cool. Oh, I snagged a Jon Singleton foul ball last night – my fifth of the season.
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