Santino

I just learned yesterday that former Texas Democratic Party Chair Bob Slagle died a few weeks ago.  I found out when I was reading over the list of speakers at next week’s Texas Democratic Party State Convention, and he was referred to as “the late” and his widow was going to speak.  Wow!

I met Bob in 1976 when he was named Chair of the 1976 Texas Democratic Party Get-Out-The-Vote Campaign that was key to Jimmy Carter carrying Texas. I was the campaign’s deputy director and worked closely with him.  He was a major part of the effort along with the late Calvin Guest, who was the Texas Democratic Party Chair at the time, who embraced a more diverse Texas Democratic Party leadership structure. The 1976 Texas Democratic Party Convention that was held in H-Town was the one where the caucuses like the Latino and African American selected their own representatives to the Democratic National Committee, for the first time ever.  Bob was a crucial player that help make that happen.

In 1980, he was elected Chair of the Texas Democratic Party, again, at the convention held in H-Town at the Hofheinz Pavilion.  In 1982, he worked closely with us on the Mark White for Governor Campaign and was a close confidant to Gov. White during his term. He was always around our State Capitol offices.

My Dad was a national delegate to the 1992 Democratic National Convention that was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. That is the convention that nominated Bill Clinton and Al Gore. We put together and framed my Dad’s delegate badges, and convention buttons and photos. The frame montage hangs here at my place. One of the photos is of my Dad and Bob.

Bob was as good a Democrat as there is. 

FYI: Bob was the last Chair of the Texas Democratic Party who served during an election where Democrats won statewide races. Just saying.

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Commentary was absolutely floored yesterday when I saw on my phone gizmo that James Caan had left us. Wow!

He will always be known as “Santino” or “Sonny” from “The Godfather” and very small role in “The Godfather Part II.”

“Brian’s Song,” “Cinderella Liberty,” “The Gambler,” “Misery,” “Rollerball,” and “Thief” were among my favorite James Caan flicks.

At the end of “Godfather Part II,” in the flashback scene, when Michael tells Sonny he had enlisted, and Sonny says to Michael:

“Whatcha go to college? To get stupid. You’re really stupid.”

It is one of my favorite James Caan lines.

The tollbooth scene where Sonny gets riddled with bullets has got to be one of the best of this type right up there with the ending of “Bonnie and Clyde.”

James Caan was a great actor.

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The City of H-Town laid out the proposed City Council district lines yesterday.  I will only be speaking to Council District H.  It needed population. At first glance, they added Precinct 30 in Montrose. More of Downtown from I-10 to Texas Avenue which means The Yard will be in H instead of District I. A precinct is added to the Northeast part of H. It also gets geography just south of I-10 up to Heights Blvd. Those appear to be the most significant changes.

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This is from a Channel 13 News Story yesterday:

When it comes to credentials, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said (Clifford) Tatum’s resume shows that he’s the man to replace (Isabel) Longoria as the Harris County Elections Administrator.

“He works elections in D.C. right now, but he was the interim secretary of state in Georgia. He had a high-level position there as well,” Hidalgo said. “And he’s worked for the federal government, advising elections officials all throughout the country. He was selected through a very thorough process, a weekslong process.”

I am just going to leave it at that.

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There continues to be fallout from that Jury Appreciation Week that Commentary recently mentioned. A lawyer is complaining that the speakers urged jurors to find justice for victim families but nothing about justice for defendants or their families.

Speakers included law enforcement officials, business folks, TV reporters, and the Houston Texans cheerleaders.

Here is what the District Clerk put out:

“Jury Appreciation Week is a nationally recognized event that has been held by the Harris County District Clerk’s Office since 2009.

“The purpose of Jury Appreciation Week is to honor jurors and tell them how important their participation is in the American justice system.

“Guest speakers invited to Jury Appreciation Week volunteer their time and are solely for inspiration and entertainment. The remarks made by the guest speakers are their own.”

If I go to jury duty, and I do – I went a few weeks ago – I don’t want to be inspired or entertained. You want to show appreciation for my service, put out some Shipley Donuts for those of us who show up.

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My lawn and my neighborhood certainly needed the rain showers yesterday. I put a couple of items out to dry yesterday in the sun. They ended up getting drenched. No worries. They are made from material that can handle some rain. I will just put them out to dry again today.

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54-28. We started the second half of the season with a win.

Jose Altuve is leading the race for starting second baseman for the AL All Star team. Yordan Alvarez is in a tight race with Shohei Ohtani for starting DH. Go vote today.

We are in Oakland for the weekend.