Lege Briefs: Perry formally puts Jones in nomination (Texas)

San Antonio Express-News ^ | 02/02/2005

[SwinneySwitch]

AUSTIN — Elizabeth Ames Jones, the former state representative from San Antonio, was formally nominated by Gov. Perry on Tuesday to the 3-member Texas Railroad Commission.

Jones, a Republican, still needs to go before the Senate for confirmation. She declined to be sworn in to her House seat last month, after Perry announced she was his pick to replace Charles Matthews.

Vying to fill Jones' 121st District seat in Saturday's special election are former Texas Supreme Court Judge Rose Spector, a Democrat; businessman Joe Straus III, a Republican; and former state Rep. Paul Silber, who is running as an independent.

A fourth candidate, Republican Glen S. Starnes, withdrew last week.

Matthews resigned Tuesday to become chancellor of the Texas State University System.

[SwinneySwitch]

Texas RRC Ping!

[AuH2ORepublican]

Is former state Rep. Silber a former Republican or Democrat? I would hate for the conservative vote to be split and have a RAT win with under 40%.

[SwinneySwitch]

"Silber was a Democrat in the Texas House from 1970 to 1971 and was chairman of the committee on school finance."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1331383/posts

[Theodore R.]

Runoffs have been required in TX special elections since 1958, after Democrat Ralph William Yarborough won the 1957 special U.S. Senate election for the seat vacated by incoming Governor and outgoing Senator Price Daniel, Sr. Yarborough won his initial election with only 38 percent of the vote without a runoff, then won regular general elections in 1958 and 1964, the latter beating the upstart George Herbert Walker Bush.

[Theodore R.]

I wonder if this Silber is related to the former Boston University President John Silber, the unsuccessful Democrat gubernatorial nominee in MA in 1990, and a mentor of the once popular William J. "Bill" Bennett. I know that the MA Silber had some kind of TX roots.

[AuH2ORepublican]

"I wonder if this Silber is related to the former Boston University President John Silber, the unsuccessful Democrat gubernatorial nominee in MA in 1990, and a mentor of the once popular William J. "Bill" Bennett. I know that the MA Silber had some kind of TX roots."

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Maybe DJ knows, since I know that he liked John Silber (or at least liked him better than Bill Weld).

Isn't John Silber Jewish? I know that there are quite a few Jews in Texas (Martin Frost comes to mind), but it seems odd that San Antonio would elect a Jewish Democrat to the state house in 1970. But then again, Birmingham, AL elected a Jewish Democrat to Congress throughout the 1980s.

[AuH2ORepublican]

"Runoffs have been required in TX special elections since 1958"

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Are TX special elections all-party affairs? If so, it makes sense to require a run-off if no candidate gets 50%+1. But I don't see how such all-party election could withstand First Amendment scrutiny. If political parties have a First-Amendment right to have their members nominate a standard-bearer for their party, as was decided by the Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit when they invalidated the Washington and California blanket primaries, having a special election in which several candidates from the party run and in which the top two among all the candidates go on to a run-off would not allow the members of the party to decide who the party's nominee will be (perhaps the Republican that finished in the top-two did so by getting votes from Democrats). Of course, the same holds true for the Louisiana November jungle primary (which is exactly like the TX special election), and it hasn't been found unconstitutional yet.

[Theodore R.]

Yes, TX special elections are open to all voters regardless of party. Louisiana uses this identical format for all its elections.

[Theodore R.]

Your argument about the special elections makes sense, but thus far no court has struck down the special election law in TX.

[Theodore R.]

I don't know if Silber is Jewish, but the name does "sound" Jewish, as it could be a corruption of "Silver."

[Theodore R.]

So, who is the conservative choice in this election? The candidates are unfamiliar to me.

[SwinneySwitch]

Joe Straus and family

http://www.texansforjoestraus.com

[MeekOneGOP]

bump!

[txyankee]

Joe Straus is the only Conservative int eh race. very low turn out they will need every one to vote Saturday.

[fieldmarshaldj]

I have no idea if this fmr. Rep. Silber is related to the former BU President. The Texan apparently only served the remainder of a term in a special election. I was interested in how he managed to attain a Chairmanship in such a short period, let alone what contributed to his defeat.

[txyankee]

I will submit a guess. Its a Republican seat, so Pete Laney, the former democrat Speaker, gave Silber a plum assignment as a chair, in hopes of assisting Silber in his reelection. weirder reasons then this have promoted other democrat legislators under the rein of Pete Laney.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Yeah, but this guy served way, way back in the 1970-71 session, and Laney was a long ways away from becoming Speaker (and in 1970, the concept of a "Republican" seat in Texas was as alien as one in Downtown Detroit).

[txyankee]

a great point and I stand corrected and humbled by being so stupid.

[GOPcapitalist]

Jones, a Republican, still needs to go before the Senate for confirmation.

Let's hope that they vote her down then! Ames-Jones is an abortionist dingbat RINO whose energy industry credentials are about on par with Paris Hilton's.

Rick nominated her because she carried his water on some liberal bills last session and because she's got a rich husband who buys her public offices to keep her entertained. She is NOT qualified for the job and thus should NOT be confirmed.