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The Austin Bulldog
15 candidates raised $1.65 million
Four candidates running for mayor and 11 of the 13 candidates running for five seats on the Austin City Council raised a combined total of $1.65 million through June 30, 2024. Two candidates—Monica Guzman running in District 4 and Pierre Nguyen running in District 7—have not filed campaign finance reports due July 15th. Hence the red ink in the chart below.
Mike Siegel hit with ethics complaint
Julie Oliver, campaign treasurer for District 7 council candidate Gary Bledsoe, questioned the ethics of his District 7 opponent Mike Siegel in the Bulldog’s report published July 3rd. Then Oliver took it a step further by filing an official ethics complaint against Siegel July 12th. Complaint allegations. Email service...
Appraisal district adopts $32.2 million budget
The Travis Central Appraisal District Board of Directors held two public hearings June 13, 2024, one for the agency’s 2025 budget, the other for amendments to the 2025/2026 reappraisal plan. There were no public comments at either hearing. The board then voted unanimously to approve a 2025 annual budget...
It’s official: Bledsoe running for District 7
Attorney Gary Lynn Bledsoe, 71, made it official by appointing a campaign treasurer late yesterday afternoon. He’s one of six candidates aiming to succeed Council Member Leslie Pool in the District 7 seat. Pool has held that seat since 2014, when voters were first able to elect council members from geographic districts. She is term-limited and will retire at the end of this year.
Bledsoe may enter District 7 council race
It looks like the field running for the District 7 Austin City Council seat is about to get a new—and far different kind of candidate. Attorney Gary Lynn Bledsoe, 71, says he is seriously considering running for the District 7 seat currently occupied by Leslie Pool, who is term-limited.
Plaintiffs request to appeal denied in Central Health lawsuit
The lawsuit that seeks to stop Central Health from transferring $35 million a year to the University of Texas for Dell Medical School was obstructed by Judge Amy Clark Meacham’s ruling of May 21st. (Birch et al v. Central Health et al, Cause No. D-1-GN-17-005824) Transfers to date total $350 million and another $35 million is budgeted for this year. Those transfers are funded by the property taxes that Central Health levies on all Travis County taxpayers.
Video: Laine challenges incumbent Kelly for District 6
Krista Laine, a Democrat, on May 19th kicked off her campaign to unseat District 6 Council Member Mackenzie Kelly, a Republican. Bulldog videographer Erik Mauck was there to record the event. While council elections are technically nonpartisan, party politics are important in this election, as they have been in council...
No checkmate in Central Health litigation
District Judge Amy Clark Meacham, in a May 21st letter, asked attorneys for both sides to prepare additional proposed orders in the lawsuit that sought to stop Central Health from transferring $35 million a year to the University of Texas at Austin for Dell Medical School. (Birch et al v. Central Health et al, Cause No. D-1-GN-17-005824)
Video: Lawsuit could halt Central Health’s $35 million a year in transfers to UT Dell Medical School
Last Friday we published a lengthy story about the hearing conducted by District Judge Amy Clark Meacham. Her decision, based on the evidence presented in Birch v Central Health will determine whether the University of Texas at Austin, for Dell Medical School, will continue to receive $35 million a year from property taxes collected by Central Health to provide indigent healthcare services.
Lawsuit could halt Central Health’s $35 million a year transfers to UT Dell Medical School
District Judge Amy Clark Meacham will decide—based on a two-hour hearing held in her court Thursday—whether Central Health can continue transferring $35 million of the property taxes it collects each year to the University of Texas at Austin for Dell Medical School. The hearing stems from a lawsuit...
Democrats sweep TCAD board election
There is no such thing as a nonpartisan election in Travis County, Texas. Sure, sure, I know. Elections in Travis County for city councils, school boards, and even the board of directors of the Travis Central Appraisal District are technically nonpartisan. In reality, political party DNA was front and center...
Profile: Doug Greco for mayor
Douglas Jeffrey Greco, 53, is one of four candidates (so far) who’s campaigning to be Austin’s mayor in 2025. Greco trying to unseat incumbent Mayor Kirk Preston Watson, 66, who raised and spent $2 million to win his third term in 2022. He was first elected mayor in 1997, was reelected in 2020, and resigned in 2021 to run for Texas attorney general.
Court halts $354 million development subsidy
A Travis County court issued a ruling to halt the use of future property taxes to subsidize luxury development of 118 acres of land within the South Center Waterfront District. District Judge Jessica Mangrum last Friday issued a Summary Judgment Final Order in favor of plaintiffs. The lawsuit to stop...
Austin City Manager: Dallas discard vs Denton delight
Council members make policy. The city manager’s job is to implement those policies. A great city manager can get that done and keep the ship of state sailing smoothly. A good city manager can get most assignments done and avoid letting the ship of state crash into rocky shoals. A poor city manager will smash the ship of state into the icebergs that bob in the waters and bring disaster for all hands on deck.
Will lawsuit blow up Project Connect train tracks?
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit Dirty Martin’s et al v. Mayor Kirk Watson et al claim they’re victims of a bait-and-switch scheme because Project Connect will deliver improvements vastly inferior to what voters were promised when they approved Proposition A (Cause No. D-1-GN-23-008105). Voters approved Proposition A on November...
Austin city manager finalist Platt drops out
Kansas City TV station KMBC 9 News reported this morning that the City Council of Kansas City last night voted for Mayor Quinton Lucas to negotiate a new contract for City Manager Brian Platt. TV station KHSB reported that “city hall sources (said that) Platt has agreed to renegotiate a...
First-ever opportunity to elect appraisal board members
Right now local voters are of course focused on the Super Tuesday primary elections of March 5th, but another election two months later should be of interest to all Travis County property owners. On May 4th Travis County voters have a million-dollar opportunity to pick three members to serve on...
Ethics? Who gives a damn?
“I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now, and go to the window, open it and stick your head out and yell, ‘I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ Things have got to change. But first, you’ve gotta get mad! You’ve got to say, ‘I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ ” — Howard Beale (Peter Finch) addressing his live television audience in the 1976 movie, “Network”
They’re off and running for council
As in horse racing, the bugler has sounded, “Call to the Post” for the Austin City Council campaigns that are now officially underway. A well known variation on the Golden Rule is that, “Whoever has the gold makes the rules.” That was definitely the case in the 2022 election of Mayor Kirk Watson and five council members.
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