DVO South Texas Courthouse Whistlestop Tour, 5/23,24

[PDittie]

David Van Os will be in South Texas next week at a courthouse near you. Don't miss your opportunity to hear democracy sounds like! David will be accompanied on this Tour by Lt. Governor candidate Maria Luisa Alvarado, Agriculture Commissioner candidate Hank Gilbert, and Land Commissioner candidate Valinda Hathcox.



TUESDAY MAY 23

8:30 AM FLORESVILLE, Wilson County
10:00 AM KARNES CITY, Karnes County
12:30 PM TILDEN, McMullin County
2:45 PM GEORGE WEST, Live Oak County
4:15 PM BEEVILLE, Bee County

WEDNESDAY MAY 24

9:00 AM GOLIAD, Goliad County
10:30 AM CUERO, Dewitt County
12:15 PM HALLETTSVILLE, Lavaca County
2:45 PM GONZALES, Gonzales County
4:15 PM SEGUIN, Guadalupe County

[rusty_parts2001]

1. Why not Victoria?

We're right on the way between Cuero and Hallettsville. Lots of Democratic activists here who support you!

[David Van Os]

3. Victoria

I'll definitely be going to Victoria on one of my trips. I'm going to every county in Texas.

[Czolgosz]

2. Of course, we'd love to see DVO in Corpus Christi again (k & r)

[PDittie]

4. Note the revision to May 23:

4:15 PM
BEEVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY, BEEVILLE (courthouse under renovation), BEE COUNTY
6:00 PM
THE GREEN DOOR RESTAURANT, BEEVILLE (open to public)

[David Van Os]

5. My thanks to Perry

Perry, thank you for posting this. -- dvo

[PDittie]

6. A report from the road today

From David's post at Daily Kos:

Karnes City and Karnes County are named for Henry Wade Karnes. The history marker at the courthouse says he was conspicuous for gallantry at Bexar, commanded a company at San Jacinto, and became a Texas Ranger in 1838 at age 26. There are portraits of him and Deaf Smith in the first floor hallway of the courthouse.

County Clerk Alva Jonas engaged me in a lengthy discussion. She says the turnout in the recent primaries was so low because people are so mad about the way things are going in the country and the state they refused to vote. (Talk about a huge "none of the above" vote!) She says one of the things people are so mad about is the electronic voting technologies.

She is the county election administrator. She and her staff normally call local registered voters every election just to remind their local citizens to vote. This time a lot of people told them, "NO." A lot of people espressed anger over the electronic machnines, she says, because they don't trust the machine to record their vote accurately when they have no paper ballot to prove how they voted. Ms. Jonas wants to go back to plain old paper ballots. She believes, as I do, that counting the votes in a democracy should be an open public process and should never have been contracted out to private enterprises.

I met Robbie Shortner, Democratic candidate for Karnes County District Clerk, who has a Republican opponent in the general election. She appreciated my telling her I'm proud to be on the ticket with her. Democrats usually win the local elections around here, but you can never be sure and Robbie is taking nothing for granted. The present District Clerk is retiring after 25 years service and has endorsed Robbie to succeed her.

I did a short walk around the courthouse square and introduced myself to local store owners. I told each one that I want to do something about the greedy oil companies and stop them from walking all over us. I asked each person to help me take on the oil companies. Each one smiled and told me good luck and they hoped I win. The owner of Sam's Tacos asked for literature to put out by her cash register. The owner of the little pharmacy asked me if by doing something about the oil companies I was going to help poor people. I told her absolutely, that was the whole point. She said God bless you sir, I am for you 100%. Then she inisisted that I meet the customers who were in the store at the moment and give them my literature.

Maria Luisa Alvarado, our Texas Democratic nominee for Lt. Governor, and Valinda Hathcox, our candidate for General Land Commissioner, are with me this trip. We 3 are a great coordinated campaign team. We fan out and spread the message to different people at the same time so that we cover more. We're all on the same page, on a mission to return Texas government to the people. It's going to happen, too.

[PDittie]

7. A flash report from Goliad

Our first stop this morning was Goliad, one of Texas' most historical towns. Goliad County is one of the 35 original counties of the Republic of Texas. After Santa Anna's defeat at San Jacinto, the commanding general of the remaining Mexican army tendered their surrender to Texian forces in Goliad County. Goliad was also the site, of course, of the well-known Goliad Massacre.

We had quite a welcoming committee. The County Judge, the Mayor, the Sheriff, the Justice of the Peace, and the editor of the local newspaper -- The Texan Express -- plus about 15 local townspeople including some self-described "staunch" Republicans. The Mayor is the president of the Goliad Democrats Club.

After hearing us speak one fellow raised his hand and said, "I'm a landman and a lifelong Republican, and I like what I'm hearing, and y'all have got my vote." Another man then spoke up: "Lots of us Republicans are tired of what's going on and are voting Democratic this year."

The newspaper editor was enthused. He hung around and took lots of pictures. He insisted on as many people as could squeeze into several group photos for the paper. The Sheriff told me he usually heads up the local Democratic Party straight-ticket GOTV drive. He said he is going to work it harder this year than he ever has because the country cannot stand any more Republican power-grabbing. The people like the message of taking their government back. It resonates. I truly believe something extraordinary is going on beneath the radar screens of the pundits and pollsters. They think it's just about G.W. Bush personally. They are very wrong.

The RNC a few days ago sent out an impassioned fundraising solicitation for Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. Dewhurst already has millions and Maria Luisa Alvarado has pennies. But they are worried, very worried, and with good reason. My opponent Greg Abbbott is setting up fundraising receptions around the state and doing a lot of arm-twisting for hosts and sponsors. He already had $5.7 million dollars as of December. Yes, they are very worried. Good. I hope the oil companies give Abbott billions to try to beat me. They will give him every penny they can if they want to keep their greed river flowing. It won't do them any good. The people are going to take their government back.

[PDittie]

8. Day 2: Gonzales and Seguin

Driving into Gonzales, it was a thrill to see the big "Come and Take It" flag waving from a pole at the edge of town. It is of course a replica of the battle flag the Gonzales townspeople raised in 1835 in response to the Mexican Army demand to surrender their one cannon.

It was an even bigger thrill seeing the gorgeous old Gonzales county courthouse. Gonzales County was formed by legislation of the Congress of the Republic of Texas in 1842. Solemn relics from that time are seen in the hallways and byways of the courthouse.

A sizeable audience was waiting for us in the courthouse. The County Judge moved us into the big main courtroom to accommodate the crowd.

It seemed appropriate to me to draw a parallel to the town's history. I told them that just as the people of Gonzales fired the first shot in a revolution against tyranny, we the people of Texas today have to win a revolution against the tyranny of corporate government that we are living under now. There were many smiles and claps, and these assembled residents of Gonazales County clearly liked what they heard. The audience was a rainbow of old, young, male, female, Anglo, Latino, and African-American. But really, they were all just Texans together, sick and tired of the theft of democracy.

From Gonzales we went on to Seguin. We were met by a group of townspeople in the square across the street from the courthouse. They waited for us for nearly a half hour, as a caravan of 18-wheelers slowed our drive on the 2-lane highway and caused what should been a half-hour drive to take nearly an hour. The local AM radio station was also there and conducted interviews.

Seguin is another of the old towns steeped in Texas independence history. It is named for Juan Seguin, one of the heroes of the Texas war of independence. Juan Seguin is the most prominent figure in the 3-century line of one of the old Spanish families that settled Tejas in the early 1700s. Before he was 30 years old, he was the first person to circulate a pamphlet calling for the inhabitants of Texas to rise against the dictatorial usurper Santa Anna and achieve independence. He was one of the leaders of the Texan forces in the successful siege of Bexar (San Antonio) in December 1835. He was at the Alamo, but Col. Travis ordered him to slip through the Mexican lines and depart to seek more reinforcements. He commanded a company at San Jacinto and became a Senator of the Texas Republic. The memorial to him, near which we met this afternoon, is beautiful and moving.

The townspeople of Seguin with whom we met this afternoon were just as responsive to the message as everybody else with whom we met all day long and the day before in the other towns we visited. They want it back, and this year on November 7 they're going to take it back.