Vote Today
I just saw this in the Chron:
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg went to Love Park Community Center Tuesday morning to cast a ballot in her own primary race — only to be told someone had already voted in her name.
Ogg said she was told that when her partner, who lives at the same address, went to vote, an election worker pulled up Ogg’s voter number instead.
The incident appears to be isolated.
“That’s the kind of voter impact that we want to avoid,” Ogg, who always votes on election day out of superstition, said from the community center. “And so I’m just concerned.”
She said she called the Harris County Clerk’s Office and was told she would be requalified to vote but doesn’t know how long that process would take.
That’s odd.
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I met former Spring Branch ISD Superintendent Duncan Klussmann and his wife Marissa this past summer at a ballgame at The Yard. There are always different folks sitting next to me at games. I always ask them where they live to break the ice. It turns out they live in my neighborhood. He also told me he was the former superintendent of SBISD. We also have mutual acquaintances. He seemed like a nice fella.
I read his Op-Ed in the Chron last week where he was critical of SBISD budget cuts. As a former superintendent of SBISD, he certainly knows what he is talking about. Well, he is getting major blowback. See this from the Chron:
Spring Branch ISD trustees will consider a proposal to remove former Superintendent Duncan Klussmann’s name from the district’s educational center, a week after Klussmann criticized them for cutting librarians and closing schools in a Houston Chronicle editorial.
Board President Chris Earnest announced his intent to ask for this vote last week when he called Klussmann a “failed superintendent” who was “asleep at the wheel for a decade.”
Earnest said Klussmann’s decision to cut academic positions to balance the 2011 budget led to a “dumpster fire” that resulted in some campuses being monitored for their performance by the Texas Education Agency.
“He’s just a picture hanging up on the wall in the admin building,” Earnest said.
Klussmann’s Feb. 24 opinion piece, titled “Enough with the grandstanding, Spring Branch ISD,” came in response to the district’s recent announcement that they are cutting all librarians, laying off 40 instructional specialists, restructuring the district’s counseling program and reducing other central office positions. This round of budget cuts save $22.6 million, and is the last step in closing the $35 million budget deficit for 2024-2025.
Klussmann wrote that the cuts were “drastic” and unnecessary, representing only 9% of the district’s operating budget.
And this:
Klussmann said Monday that it is ironic that the board, including Earnest, is trying to reverse course after choosing to name the building after him in a unanimous vote.
“If the board moves forward with removing my name from the campus, it is clearly a retaliation for being critical of how they’re moving forward with the budget cuts and directly an attempt to defame my name,” Klussmann said.
Here is the entire read: Spring Branch ISD trustees consider removing Duncan Klussmann’s name (houstonchronicle.com).
Talk about petty and thin skinned. Grow-up, trustees.
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A tweet from Tags this morning:
Justin Verlander will be on the IL to begin the season, manager Joe Espada said. Verlander hasn’t had any setbacks, but he needs more time in his build up. “He’s doing well, but we’re running out of days and won’t be able to build him up to start the regular season,” he said.
There is always something.
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Commentary is a spectator today. I am going to call my State Rep. Christina Morales and remind her that five years ago today she was elected in a special election runoff.
Go vote today, please. See the featured photo.
