The November elections promise to be interesting with several contested races on the ballot.

At the top will be the race for Galveston County Judge. Republican Mark Henry challenges Democrat and incumbent Jim Yarbrough. There is also a very interesting race developing for district attorney as Republican Jack Roady challenges incumbent Kurt Sistrunk, a Democrat.

As we do for each election The Daily News will publish candidates questionnaires for the local races. The questionnaires include standard questions about a candidate's background and issues of the campaign. But we also solicit questions from our readers.

If you have a question for the candidates, please send it by email to: tjaulds@galvnews.com. We will review the reader submitted questions and include some of them in the questionnaires.

The contested races we will feature: County Judge, District Attorney, County Clerk, County Treasurer, County Court Judge 1, County Court Judge 2, County Court Judge 3, District Clerk, Probate Court Judge, 122nd District Court and County Commissioner Pct. 2. There are also board elections scheduled in the Galveston and Friendswood school districts.

The deadline to submit questions is Aug. 15.

How much money did candidates for the Galveston City Council take in between April 30 and July 15, the last reporting period for campaign contributions? Mayor Joe Jaworski, who’d already won the election, received more than $36,000.

Here are complete reports for that period:


Galveston Campaign Finance Reports

One of the perceptions the Tea Party movement has to face includes accusations that the group is a collection of a bunch of racists. Tea Party supporters deny that accusation.

According to all the surveys, Tea Party supporters are predominately older, white and men. But about a quarter of those surveyed are Hispanic, Asian-American or African American.

“I keep my distance because they are angry, white Republicans and many of them are racists,” Democratic Party activist and blogger John Cobarruvias said. “That’s all they are. I have very little respect for them.”

Clear Lake Tea Party Chairman James Bentley counters that he and others in the movement have tried to reach out to minorities and he stresses that the movement is about principles, not race.

“When it comes down to it, if you ask questions you will find we are not much different on the issues,” Bentley said. “It’s about education and getting a better understanding of what’s happening out there.”

Links

Clear Lake Tea Party

John Cobarruvias' Bay Area Houston blog

Gallup Poll on the makeup of the Tea Party supporters

CBS/New York Times Tea Party poll

Will Galveston's city council elections come down to provisional ballots? Two of the runoff elections from Saturday are close enough the answer is a big fat maybe.

There are 35 of the ballots, which are uncounted ballots where the voter registration of the voter could not be verified at the polling location. Twenty-five of the provisionals were cast during the early voting period while 10 were cast on Saturday.

Provisional ballots rarely come into play for elections. But given the makeup of this county after Hurricane Ike, it is more a possibility they could determine final outcomes than in previous years.

For a detailed explanation of the provisional ballots click here for my story on Saturday's election.

Click here for a look at the cumulative election report of the unofficial results from Saturday's election. Pay close attention to the number of under votes in each race.

An under vote is where a voter skipped a race on the ballot. You would think that in single-member district elections, especially in a runoff when nothing else is on the ballot, a voter would not go to the polls simply to skip casting a ballot.

It is likely that in the case of the nine under votes tallied Saturday; the voters were confused by the electronic voting machines. They probably thought they had voted, but in reality had not.

Many voters still have trouble with the machines.

Usually under votes don't factor in either. But check out the number of under votes in the District 2 race where Linda Colbert leads Angela Brown by four votes.

How many under votes where there? Four. Three were cast during the early voting period and one on Election Day.

And if you want to check out our Twitter feed from the election, including my posts where I figured out that the races were not as over as I had first thought, click here.

Three council positions are in runoff elections today in Galveston.

In District 1, incumbent Tarris Woods faces Rusty Legg. In District 2, incumbent Linda Colbert faces Angela Brown. In District 3, incumbent Elizabeth Beeton faces Sheryl Rozier.

Follow updates on my Twitter feed.

Three council positions are in runoff elections today in Galveston.

In District 1, incumbent Tarris Woods faces Rusty Legg. In District 2, incumbent Linda Colbert faces Angela Brown. In District 3, incumbent Elizabeth Beeton faces Sheryl Rozier.

Follow updates on my Twitter feed.

Who has predictions?

Texas House Speaker Joe Strauss on Friday announced that he has named State Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, as a member of the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission. The 12-member panel of state representatives, state senators and two members of the public review the policies and programs of more than 150 state government agencies.

The panel looks for those programs that have worn out their welcome or programs that could run more efficiently.

Every state agency has to come up for a sunset review every 12 years and the commission has a big say on what stays and what goes. The Sunset Act, which became effective in August 1977, specifies each agency’s review date.

"I am pleased to appoint Representative Larry Taylor to this important position," Straus said. "He is a well-respected leader in the Texas House and a strong supporter of government accountability.

"I am confident that his deep knowledge of the numerous technical and policy issues before this commission will serve us well."

Taylor, who is the chairman of the Republican Caucus of the Texas House of Representatives also sits on the House Insurance and Ways and Means committees. He replaces seven term State Rep. Carl Isett, R-Lubbock, who resigned from the state house last week.

"I'm excited," Taylor said of the appointment. "It's a lot of work, particularly this upcoming session because it is like double duty."

Indeed, all of the agencies that were up for sunset review last session got pushed to the upcoming session after a budget battle stalled a bunch of legislation. So, Taylor and the other panel members will get to review 28 state agencies including the Texas Department of Transportation and the Texas Department of Insurance that are holdovers from the last session. The Electric Reliability Council (ERCOT), Public Utility Commission, the Racing Commission and the Railroad Commission are also on tap for reviews.

Taylor said the reviews are essential, particularly during what is expected to be a lean budget year. He said legislators are more willing to take a closer look at spending during tough economic times in order to set priorities.

He said the review is not just about cutting agencies, but looking for efficiencies within those agencies and reducing redundancy. It's a mantra has gives at almost every speech I have ever heard him give about the legislature.

He doesn't get much of a grace period. Taylor's first Sunset Review Commission meeting is Tuesday.

Taylor is the first member of the Galveston County delegation named to the Sunset Review Commission since State Sen. Mike Jackson was appointed to the commission during the 79th Legislative session in 2005. Jackson was also on the panel in 2003 (78th Legislature).

Former State Rep. Patricia Gray, D-Galveston, was the last Galveston County member of the House to serve of the commission. She was the Vice-Chair in 1999 (76th Legislature) and Chairwoman in 1997 (75th Legislature). She was named a member of the commission during the 74th legislative session in 1995.

An added bit of trivia, former State Sen. A.R. "Babe" Schwartz served on the commission in 1979 and again in 1981.

Taylor noted that the public gets to have its say in the process too. For more on that and details about the Sunset Review Commission process click here.

Agencies up for review.

*Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Coastal Coordination Council
*Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)
Electronic Government Program Management Office of the Department of Information Resources
Emergency Communications, Commission on State
Environmental Quality, Texas Commission on
*Equine Research Account Advisory Committee
Forest Service, Texas
Hearing Instruments, State Committee of Examiners in the Fitting and Dispensing of
Housing and Community Affairs, Texas Department of
*Housing Corporation, Texas State Affordable
Information Resources, Department of
Injured Employee Counsel, Office of
*Insurance Counsel, Office of Public
*Insurance, Texas Department of
*Juvenile Probation Commission, Texas
On-site Wastewater Treatment Research Council
Public Finance Authority, Texas
Public Utility Commission of Texas
Public Utility Counsel, Office of
*Racing Commission, Texas
Railroad Commission of Texas
Soil and Water Conservation Board, State
Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, State Board of Examiners for
*Transportation, Texas Department of
Water Development Board, Texas
Workers' Compensation, Texas Department of Insurance Division of
*Youth Commission, Texas

*Subject to a focused, limited scope, or special purpose review.