Local Fort Bend County officials
will be sworn in on New Year's Day, but Joan Huffman, newly elected to the state Senate District 17 seat, was sworn in early Monday afternoon.
A statement from her office said Huffman, R-Southside Place, received the oath of office on the Texas Senate floor, administered by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.
"State law allows Huffman to take the oath of office as soon as practical after the vote is officially canvassed," the statement from her office said. "Gov. Rick Perry certified the vote Sunday, Dec. 28."
"The families of SD17 expect hard work and results, which is why I am taking the oath of office as soon as possible," Huffman said. "We will be prepared to work before the Legislature convenes.
"I'm very thankful to everyone who helped make this day possible. My pledge is to be a representative for all SD17 families," she added. "Chief among our priorities will be helping families and businesses recover from Hurricane Ike and developing new tools for state and local law enforcement officials to secure the Texas/Mexico border."
Huffman won a run-off election earlier this month - beating Democrat Chris Bell by just over 5,000 votes.
Bell took more votes in the Nov. 4 general election than any of the six candidates running to fill resigned Sen. Kyle Janek's seat. But because he didn't win more than 50% of the total votes, he was forced into a run-off race with Huffman.
SD-17 includes portions of Fort Bend, Harris, Brazoria and Galveston counties. In Fort Bend County, Huffman took 64.2% of the vote - 7,076 votes - compared with 3,945 votes or 35.8% for Bell.
Date Full name of contributor out-of-state PAC (ID#______________)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Contributor address; City; State; Zip Code
Amount of
contribution ($)
In-kind contribution
description (if applicable)
(If travel outside of Texas, complete Schedule T)
Principal occupation / Job title (See Instructions) Employer (See Instructions)
06/30/2008
NAU, JOHN
HOUSTON, TX 77019
***$5,000.00***
PRESIDENT SILVER EAGLE DISTRIBUTORS LP
PS At least the alcohol and beer companies should have a good friend in the senate. (big grin)
« MEGABITE wrote on Thursday, Sep 25 at 10:17 AM »
Biden's Financial History Disqualifies Him For High Office
by Michael Medved
If a candidate for high office does a spectacularly poor job in managing his own family's finances, why on earth should we trust him in a national leadership position at a time of acute economic crisis?
Senator Joe Biden's recently disclosed tax returns display a consistent pattern of poor judgment and shabby values that ought to disqualify him for the vice presidency or any other post of significant responsibility.
Over the course of ten years (1998 through 2007) the Bidens averaged an adjusted gross income of $245,000 – placing them uncomfortably close to that threshold of $250,000 a year that Senator Obama considers “wealthy” and deserving of sharply increased taxes. In several years during the last decade Biden and his educator wife Jill definitely entered into that privileged territory, reporting income of $319,853 last year (and even more in 2005).
Despite this impressive revenue stream (including a recent six-figure advance for his unreadable—and unread – memoir “Promises to Keep”), Senator Biden has managed to save almost nothing for his own retirement of to benefit his children and grandchildren. In 2007, when announcing his second presidential bid, he reported a total net worth of $100,000 to $150,000, making him the least prosperous member of the U.S. Senate. As the Washington Post sympathetically observed: “Biden has spent virtually his whole life in public service and does not have much else aside from a small array of mutual funds and cash accounts.” In June of 2008, he even listed significant liabilities including a loan up to $50,000 against his life insurance policy and line of credit indebtedness of more than $100,000 to the Wilmington Savings Fund Society. *
At the time of his selection as Senator Obama's running mate, some of his Biden's die-hard fans took perverse pride in his shaky financial situation. But why should any American feel proud of reaching retirement age (Biden will turn 66 this November) without accumulating notable savings, assets or property? A normal, hard-working middle class wage-earner who put away a few thousand dollars a year in a tax-sheltered IRA or 401K would have achieved several times Biden's net worth through the magic of regular investment and compound interest. What sort of irresponsible flake averages $245,000 in annual income (plus lavish expense allotments from the U.S. Senate) while spending nearly all his compensation and diverting next to nothing to the family's long-term security? What, exactly, did the Senator do with the literally millions of dollars he earned in recent years? The one possible explanation that's easiest to rule out is the notion that he gave away his wealth to charity. Between 1998 and 2007, his adjusted gross income never dipped below $210,797, but his charitable giving never exceeded $995 (while actually dipping as low as $120 – a paltry $10 per month). In other words, the Bidens' charitable contributions always remained well below three-tenths of one percent of their adjusted gross income – or one-thirtieth of the familiar standard of tithing upheld by many people of faith. Arthur Brooks of Syracuse University, author of “Who Really Cares?”, orstartly observed: “On average, Biden is not giving more than one tenth as much as the average American household, and that is evidence that he doesn't share charitable values with the average American. In place of individual initiative or communal responsibility for assisting the less fortunate, Biden strongly prefers to rely on governmental compulsion. The Senator recently told Kate Snow of ABC news that he considered raising taxes a form of patriotism. “It's time to be patriotic,” he solemnly intoned. “Time to jump in, time to be part of the deal, time to help get America out of the rut.” Apparently it wasn't “time to be part of the deal” in previous years, or else he considers givings home, willingly to charity inherently less patriotic than involuntary seizure of income by government In any event, Biden's refusal to help his neighbors without a federal directive to do so puts him at odds with the instinctive generosity of ordinary Americans, as does his ongoing reliance on Washington bureaucracy to provide for his every need. For thirty six years – since his initial election to the Senate at age 29- Biden's been one of 100 members of the “Most Exclusive Club in the World” with all the privileges and prerogatives associated with that status. Senators receive generous travel allowances, the support of lavish, well-paid staffs to cater to your every need both in the Capitol and on visits home, gold-plated family medical benefits and a stunningly lucrative pension program that most corporate executives would envy. Many United States Senators (and other top officials) look with favor on the ideal of a protective “nanny state” because they cherish its indulgent benefits in their own lives.
For Joe Biden, there's been little impetus to build a personal nest-egg or to plan for his retirement because Uncle Sam has always been there to take care of him. He feels no need to devote resources to private charities because he lives in a Beltway bubble where bureaucrats on the federal payroll can salve all guilty consciences by busying themselves with officious projects of cradle-to-grave “compassion.”
Still, Biden's inept handling of his personal finances, and his even more pathetic failure to contribute his resources to communal organizations, demonstrate an appalling lack of judgment and maturity. The records shows his emphatic rejection of the American dream of steady, slow economic advancement by restrained spending and regular saving. Americans who've achieved personal wealth seldom reach their goals through winning the lottery, or making sudden millions with a big, dramatic score. Far more commonly, the “millionaires next door” (to borrow a phrase from an influential bestseller) advance the interests of their families and their country through patience, hard-work, and long term planning.
Joe Biden may see his failure to provide for his own future as a point of connection with the vulnerability of many stressed and over-extended Americans but do we really need a Vice President of the United States to serve as a negative role model or warning example? A legislator (and loser) who fails to consider the long-term horizon in his own affairs represents a conspicuously terrible choice to safe-guard the future for 300 million of his fellow citizens.
Copyright © 2008 Salem Web Network. All Rights Reserved.
My 2¢ ~ JDS
And “they” criticize Sarah Palin!!! Have they no shame?
No, they have only chutzpah.
And speaking of experience, Wonderboy Obamba is trained in “community organizing” [Hoffa’s teamsters called it “skull-busting”] AND earmarking. Some experience!
Add to that Wonder-boy’s docility at 20 years of race-baiting rants by the loon, da Rev Wright – Wonderboy’s irreligious mentor. You would think that Wonderboy would at least manage that slight smile/frown/grimace like when one sits next to a flatus-emitter in church, but no! Not even that.
Will we elect the Katzenjammer Kids to head America’s government?
P.S. I met Michael Medved 15 years or so ago. He’s a smart man and a straight shooter. I do not suggest he remembers me at all.
*Old Joe does have his extravagant senatorial retirement salary should he retire (a great idea) and his exorbitant congressional health plan paid a small fortune for his hair plugs/transplants, though he probably won’t be able to store his inoperative junkers under a tarp in the Congressional garage as the Chairman of the (all powerful) House Committee on Ways and Means – Cong. Rangel – did for 5 years. (Don’t mention Rangel’s failure to pay taxes on $75,000.00 in hidden income over a 5 year period. Democrats are exempt somehow. They are mo’equal, you know.
And the ever-truthful (barf!) Washington Post did a glory-story on Biden the other day about what a modest fellow Biden was … training back to his home in Deleware every day and keeping no residence in DC.
Who paid those AMTRACK tickets?
You.
-Now deny it and make me laugh again or just say, 'I don't care' and call me a name. You ARE such a fool!
we now have candidates who not only live in district but they represent the majority. Doesn't it feel great to have our vote counted?
about Dem campaign contributions. How typical. The only one lying is you, liar.
Now back to your cut n pasting of contibutions one by one to get attention...
Date Full name of contributor out-of-state PAC (ID#______________)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Contributor address; City; State; Zip Code
Amount of
contribution ($)
In-kind contribution
description (if applicable)
(If travel outside of Texas, complete Schedule T)
Principal occupation / Job title (See Instructions) Employer (See Instructions)
06/30/2008
MARTIN, JOHN
LONGVIEW, TX 75601
**$2,500.00**
CEO R & K DISTRIBUTORS
Nothing like that $100k one though.
You are a complete waste of time. Next time you want to complain about who voted for which bailout, but don't want to claim the money has anything to do with it, then go cry in a closet because people do care and are trying to do something about it dummy.
Just google all the campaign ethics sites and follow it to your favorite elected official.
Congratulations, Joan Huffman! Well done!
bailout. I posted the vote count since you
can't seem to remember who voted for it. Are you
high?? You're digging your hole deeper and
deeper. You just don't know when to put the
shovel down. WOW.
'Date Full name of contributor out-of-state PAC (ID#______________)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Contributor address; City; State; Zip Code
Amount of
contribution ($)
In-kind contribution
description (if applicable)
(If travel outside of Texas, complete Schedule T)
Principal occupation / Job title (See Instructions) Employer (See Instructions)
06/27/2008
LEITZMAN, KRISTINE
ALEDO, TX 76008
***$5,000.00***
PS Or maybe we could require elected officials to recuse themselves on bills that directly link to contributions, but NO we could only apply your formula to that and make sure everyone but the repubs had to recuse, right?
'« MEGABITE wrote on Monday, Dec 29 at 04:21 PM »
(no one cares)'
And this one is a bute.
'« MEGABITE wrote on Monday, Dec 29 at 04:23 PM »
And I'm still waiting for you to provide some evidence I've brought up campaign contributions
about Dems. You are flat out lying again. You're
desperate, quit while you're behind.'
Now don't cry when you get called on it again. So you now deny you posted the contribution lists and voting records on the 'dems' 'bail-out'?
This one is just to easy.
about Dems. You are flat out lying again. You're
desperate, quit while you're behind.
looking for attention again obviously...
4 5
6
7 8
9 10
Electronic Filing Version 3.3.6
Schedule: 5/9 Report: 7/14
HUFFMAN, C. JOAN
00037510
Date Full name of contributor out-of-state PAC (ID#______________)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Contributor address; City; State; Zip Code
Amount of
contribution ($)
In-kind contribution
description (if applicable)
(If travel outside of Texas, complete Schedule T)
Principal occupation / Job title (See Instructions) Employer (See Instructions)
06/12/2008
HACKLER, JOE
LONGVIEW, TX 75601
**$12,000.00**
Your other claim that money doesn't impact the outcomes seems too often disproven and not just in this race, but I forgot, for you it's all about the formula. Remember, it only applies to others outside of 'the party'.
What a bad and sorry joke you are.