In honor of today’s kickoff of early voting — a two-week period in which political junkies, committed activists and other go-to-the-head-of-the-class types will line up to cast ballots for their favorite candidates, unable to contain their enthusiasm or anger until March 2 — we present five different installments in our Primary Color series. Brandi Grissom reports on the GOP face-off to take on state Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, in House District 78. Elise Hu tackles the four-way scrum between Republicans in HD-20 hoping to succeed retiring state Rep. Dan Gattis, R-Georgetown. Ross Ramsey asks why a perenially safe incumbent, state Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Keller, has a fight on her hands this year in HD-98. Abby Rapoport looks at the battle for conservative cred in the race for the District 5 seat on the State Board of Education. And Morgan Smith picks apart the five-way race for the GOP nomination in Congressional District 23 — and the chance to topple U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio.
Brandi Grissom
Brandi Grissom worked at the Tribune from its launch in 2009 until 2014, rising to the rank of managing editor. In addition to editing duties, Grissom led the Tribune's coverage of criminal justice issues. During her tenure at the Tribune, she was chosen as a 2012 City University of New York Center on Media, Crime and Justice/H.F. Guggenheim Journalism Fellow and was a fellow at the 2012 Journalist Law School at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. Grissom, along with Tribune multimedia producer Justin Dehn, received a 2012 regional Edward R. Murrow Award for investigative reporting for work on the case of Megan Winfrey, who was acquitted of murder in February 2013 after the Trib’s coverage brought statewide attention the case. Grissom joined the Tribune after four years at the El Paso Times, where she acted as a one-woman Capitol bureau. Grissom won the Associated Press Managing Editors First-Place Award in 2007 for using the Freedom of Information Act to report stories on a variety of government programs and entities, and the ACLU of Texas named her legislative reporter of the year in 2007 for her immigration reporting. She previously served as managing editor at The Daily Texan and has worked for the Alliance Times-Herald, the Taylor Daily Press, the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung and The Associated Press. A native of Alliance, Neb., she has a degree in history from the University of Texas.
Posted inState Government
Primary Color: HD-78
About the only thing Jay Kleberg and Dee Margo have in common is the R next their names on the primary ballot — that and their desire to take on freshman Democratic state Rep. Joe Moody in November.
Posted in
Demographics
Off the Bus
The U.S. Border Patrol has stopped a controversial program that shipped illegal immigrants back to Mexico through the tiny Texas border town of Presidio — for now.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
On the Records: Case Open, File Closed
Getting a look at correspondence, documents, reports, etc. related to death row inmate Hank Skinner’s case is proving more difficult than I imagined.
Posted in
State Government
TribBlog: Terri Hodge’s Farewell Letter
On the same day she publicly announced that she would drop her reelection bid and plead guilty in federal court to making false statements on an income tax return, State Rep. Terri Hodge, D-Dallas, wrote a letter to her House colleagues to say good-bye and apologize.
Posted in
State Government
Accidents Will Happen
State troopers turned in hundreds of error-riddled crash reports in 2007 and 2008, according to an internal audit by the Department of Public Safety.
Posted inState Government
Ads Infinitum: Bill White Ad No. 2
The Democratic gubernatorial candidate releases his second ad.
Posted in
Demographics
Department of Public Stimulus
The Department of Public Safety, which is struggling financially, is planning to use $16 million of the federal stimulus dollars that Gov. Rick Perry begrudgingly accepted to plug a hole in the border security budget. The decision follows a mandate by Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, and House Speaker Joe Straus that state agencies cut 5 percent out of their budgets to meet an anticipated shortfall.
Posted in
Demographics
2010: Yancy Wants Deadly Force On the Border
In case you had any doubt about Republican Texas Senate candidate Darren Yancy’s stance on immigration after looking at his Web site, this video ought to clear it up.
Posted in
Demographics
Border Blues
In blood-red Texas, 19 border legislative races are up for grabs in 2010 — but Republicans are running in only 6. And only 2 GOP candidates have raised any significant cash so far.