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• T. R. O. U. B. L. E., Part I

  by Ross Ramsey Nov. 15, 1999

  No one has stepped forward to announce a challenge to Sen. James "Buster" Brown, R-Lake Jackson, but the senator's local GOP has put together most of the tools an opponent would need. Full Story 

• A Smaller Agency, a Bigger Hole

  by Ross Ramsey Nov. 8, 1999

  Only two months into the current budget, the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (TCADA for short) has discovered it has $57 million less than it thought, partly because the agency has less money on hand than it forecast and partly because it's spending money faster than it knew. Full Story 

• Political Arithmetic Doesn't Add Up...

  by Ross Ramsey Nov. 1, 1999

  The little ol' Texas budget is suddenly national news, and with the misinformation sure to float up in the backwash of political advertising, it's probably a good idea to pull the numbers together to see when various finger-pointers are telling the truth and when they're fibbing. Full Story 

• George, Rick, Kay and All That

  by Ross Ramsey Oct. 25, 1999

  Since last Texas Independence Day, when Gov. George W. Bush publicly confessed for the first time that he'd like to dive into this presidential hoopla, Texas politics has been about "Ifs." Full Story 

• Musical Chairs in San Antonio

  by Ross Ramsey Oct. 18, 1999

  Handicapping the Senate race in San Antonio? Trying to figure out where everyone will be sitting when the music stops? You can tell what at least some of the political folks in that city are thinking, just by the fact that only one House seat -- the one now occupied by Rep. Leticia Van de Putte -- has drawn really active interest from candidates who want her job. So far, the seat that would be left open if Rep. Leo Alvarado Jr. wins the special election to replace Sen. Gregory Luna has drawn some tire-kickers but no sure-fire buyers, while the candidates looking at the Van de Putte seat are already working the district and the local lobby and the finance people and the Austin crowd. Full Story 

• Arenas for Some -- Civics for Everybody

  by Ross Ramsey Oct. 11, 1999

  If you don't live in San Antonio or Houston or a handful of other places that have sports arenas and Senate races and other interesting issues before the voters, the November ballot offers up a treat only a civics proctor could love: 17 constitutional amendments that, for the most part, don't even offer the thrill of controversy or everyday relevance. Full Story 

• Humans on the Arena Ballot

  by Ross Ramsey Oct. 4, 1999

  Sen. Gregory Luna's decision to retire from his seat, and to do so in time to allow a November 2 election, prompted a week of political scurrying and speculating in the San Antonio Democrat's district. The final take on who's running and who's not will be available at 5 p.m. October 4 (after our deadline). But Gov. George W. Bush's decision to hold the vote in November sets up a sprint that will be harder on political newcomers than on veteran officeholders. Full Story 

• Friendly Fire

  by Ross Ramsey Sept. 27, 1999

  When Gov. George W. Bush took office in 1995, he was half-surrounded by Democrats in statewide offices and could reasonably expect to fight some skirmishes now and then. Now that he's surrounded by Republicans, you might think those days are all in the past. But from the governor's standpoint, the education task force announced by Comptroller Carole Keeton Rylander rivals at least some of what the Democrats did in his first four years in the Mansion. Full Story 

• Ten Little, Nine Little, Eight Little Lite Guvs...

  by Ross Ramsey Sept. 20, 1999

  Sen. J.E. "Buster" Brown, R-Lake Jackson, isn't up for reelection next year, so his admission that he groped a 20-year-old employee who worked in his district office won't get an immediate look from voters -- at least not the voters in his district. Full Story 

• That Suit Didn't Fit, But the Tailors are Busy

  by Ross Ramsey Sept. 6, 1999

  If this was a television drama, Gov. George W. Bush might have been ordered to give a deposition to tell what he knew about the Texas Funeral Commission's efforts to fine the nation's biggest funeral home operator. But it ain't TV and he wasn't so ordered. The state's attorneys argued that he didn't have any special knowledge that would shed light on the whistle-blower case, and that was that. Full Story 

• To Focus a Politician's Attention

  by Ross Ramsey Aug. 30, 1999

  If you've ever tried to peel a kid away from a computer game or a Saturday morning cartoon, you understand something about the hold population data has on the average state or federal legislator. We're heading into that twilight zone known as a redistricting year. That explains, in part, why there are so few open seats in the Legislature right now. It explains why rural lawmakers are fidgety and why suburban Republicans are smirking, and it explains why some of the money people on both sides are probably going to stay out of campaign fights as much as possible next year. Full Story 

• Rumors, Traps and Frivolous Lawsuits

  by Ross Ramsey Aug. 23, 1999

  A common explanation of cancer treatment is that they hit you for months with large doses of something fatal, and if it kills the cancer before it kills you, you're cured. That serves as a nice metaphor for presidential politics: If you survive the examination and treatment by your opponents, the media and the public, you get to live in the White House. Full Story 

• Overt Operations: The Lite Guv Race

  by Ross Ramsey Aug. 16, 1999

  Forget all that stuff about the race for lieutenant governor being quiet, secretive, and completely underwater. Sen. David Sibley, R-Waco, has moved upstage with a whirlwind set of meetings with senators to tell them he'd like the job and to begin to try to build support. Full Story 

• Where Republicans Will Hunt Next Year

  by Ross Ramsey Aug. 13, 1999

  Republicans in Texas have relied for years on a rating system called ORVS, or Optimum Republican Voting Strength, that combines results of recent elections to show which parts of the state are friendly to the GOP. The latest numbers are out, and while there are few surprises, the charts do provide something of a road map to the GOP's targets in the next election cycle. Full Story 

• 'Tis the Season to Spend Money

  by Ross Ramsey Aug. 9, 1999

  Some retailers will tell you the state's new sales tax holiday, patterned on similar promotions in New York and Florida, is a pain in the caboose. They have to reprogram cash registers, train staff and make other changes so that their customers can buy clothing under $100 and get a waiver on sales taxes for one weekend. Full Story 

• Dog-piling, Grandstanding or Rescuing?

  by Ross Ramsey Aug. 2, 1999

  It'll take months to know which part of the headline is correct, but however it goes, you have to say that Carole Keeton Rylander took over the Texas School Performance Review with a bang. She returned -- uninvited -- to the room where she taught high school history years ago to say that she was going to send her staff and a team of consultants over to find out what ails the Austin school district. Full Story 

• Other People's Money

  by Ross Ramsey July 26, 1999

  With the notable exception of a certain campaign for president, the fundraising season is off to a slow start. You don't have to believe us -- the evidence can be found in the stacks on the tenth floor of the Sam Houston Building, where the Texas Ethics Commission keeps candidate reports on contributions and expenditures, and increasingly, on candidate borrowing. Full Story 

• Big Numbers, Little Numbers

  by Ross Ramsey July 19, 1999

  George W. Bush, who for fundraising purposes can be referred to as Godzilla, ended June with contributions of $37 million for the first half of the year, about $700,000 more than his campaign had estimated a couple of weeks ago. That means, among other things, that he'll give up federal matching funds and with them, the limits on how much he can spend during the primaries. Full Story 

• A New and Improved Teflon Politician

  by Ross Ramsey July 12, 1999

  Call it irony, call it blowback, call it what you'd like: George W. Bush takes a shot for hauling his state-paid protective detail all over the country during his presidential bid. That story, in the Austin American-Statesman, came within two days of stories about First Lady Hillary Clinton flying between Washington, DC, and New York state, where she has an exploratory committee for a U.S. Senate bid. Full Story 

• That Giant Sucking Sound

  by Ross Ramsey July 5, 1999

  If you've ever been in line behind someone who loaded up their plate with hors d'oeuvres and left nothing for you, you know how the Republican candidates for president feel about Gov. George W. Bush. Aside from the pure astonishment at the Texan's fundraising prowess, they have to reassess their own situations. He's raised so much money they have a hard time explaining their place in the Republican primary for president. It's probably no coincidence that several of the Republicans began talking in the last two weeks about running as Reform Party candidates or as independents. Full Story