ARLINGTON — State Representative Paula Hightower-Pierson (D-Arlington), who defeated Toby Goodman, a lieutenant of House Speaker Tom Craddick, in last year’s general election, has drawn an opponent for 2008: Bill Burch (R-Arlington). Burch’s previous political experience includes a last-place finish in a three-way Republican primary against former Fort Worth Mayor and Congresswoman Kay Granger (R-Fort Worth) back in 1996. His other unsuccessful political race was a loss to State Rep. John Bryant (D-Dallas) in1979. In 2006, Burch was appointed to the board of the State Bar of Texas as a public member.
FORT WORTH — Grocery-store giant Charles Butt of H-E-B jumped into the all-out-war between seven candidates seeking former Rep. Anna Mowery’s seat in House District 97 this week with a $25,000 contribution to former State Rep. Bob Leonard, a Republican, in the waning days of the election. Leonard is considered the leading contender to replace Mowery among a field of six Republicans and one Democrat.
GALVESTON — A new poll taken in Senate District 10 by Hamilton Campaigns for Democratic challenger Joe Jaworski shows that Jaworski holds a 10-point lead over incumbent State Senator Mike Jackson (R-LaPorte). Jackson is reported with a low 28-percent approval rating, and 57 percent of the voters in the district have a negative perception of the Texas Legislature. Jaworski is the grandson of famed Watergate Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski.
AUSTIN — The contact sport of football has met the contact sport of politics head on, as members of the Texas Legislature are taking a stand against the NFL Network. The issue surrounds placement of the football network on cable tiers. The NFL Network desires to be placed on digital cable, with all customers paying anywhere from 60 to 70 cents for the channel, while cable giant Time Warner wants to offer the network only on more expensive sports tiers, which would require subscribers to pay extra for it. State Sen. Kim Brimer (R-Fort Worth) and Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale (R-Tomball) have announced they will introduce legislation in 2009 if Time Warner and the NFL Network can’t agree to play nice.
