Yo Sally, Why You 'Scurred' To Debate Brittany?

Sally Kern is running like Flo Jo from a debate with Brittany Novotny.     Why is that?

Is she 'scurred' that Brittany will mop the floor with her and make her look as stupid and out of touch with Oklahoma HD 84 voters than she already is?   

Is Kern afraid that she will have to defend her record of spending more time pimping social conservative issues and being their poster child than dealing with the local legislative issues that the residents of HD 84 wish she would tackle?

Is she trying to deny Brittany a platform to describe her JET Program (Jobs, Education, Transportation) and the other ideas and initiatives she has on her website that she believes will stimulate economic development for the district and the state of Oklahoma?  

Umm hmm.

Well Sally, in 20 days you'll find out if your political strategy worked or if the voters of HD 84 replace you with a younger state rep with ideas grounded in 21st century America, not an 18th century one.

TransGriot Update:  Looks like Sally's finally going to appear at the same time with Brittany on TV.   On Sunday October 24 they will be appearing on a local political show called "Flashpoint" airing on Oklahoma City's local NBC affiliate.   


Go get her Brittany.   Time to JET, time to win! 

Dr. Dana Beyer Primary Election Night Legislative Race Update

The Maryland primary election happened last night, and Dr. Dana Beyer was hoping to take another step closer to becoming the first open trans person elected to a state legislature.

Unfortunately it was not to be. In the Legislative District 18 race, which is in Montgomery County, MD there were a total of six Democratic primary candidates vying for the three Maryland House of Delegates slots for the November 2 election.

It's such a heavily Democratic district that Republicans don't bother to run candidates in it and the Dem primary winner usually moves on to the Maryland House of Delegates.

There were a total of 18,061 votes cast in the District 18 Democratic primary, with all the incumbents grabbing the top three spots. Ana Sol Gutierrez led the pack with 4390 votes (24.31%). The next highest vote getter was Jeff Waldstreicher with 3974 votes (22.00%). Al Carr grabbed the third spot with 3783 votes (20.95%).

Dr. Beyer finished fourth with 2990 votes (16.56%) She missed moving on to the general election by just 793 votes.

Vanessa Atterbeary 2372 (13.13%) and Michael K. Heney 552 (3.06%) were the other candidates in the District 18 primary and here were their vote totals.

Dr Beyer stated in a Metro Weekly interview late Tuesday night, "The people who said they were going to vote for me didn't vote for me, so I'm clueless as to what happened," she said. "But I had data, which I trusted, that told me I was going to win.

"Something went wrong."

Asked what went wrong, Beyer said she'd have to go through the results precinct by precinct to get a better picture of what had happened, but added, "I'm just gonna let it go for now. I'm gonna move on. But, it would be nice to know why."

While Dr. Beyer narrowly missed continuing on her history making quest to the general election ballot (and the Maryland House of Delegates), I hope she considers another run in politics soon. She would definitely be an asset to whatever body she serves on.

She is already serving as an inspiration to those of us who wish to take that next evolutionary step and get elected to public office. It's not a matter of if a transperson will be elected to a state legislature, it's when.

Kern Supporters Start The Transphobic Attacks Against Novotny

When it came to this Oklahoma state legislature race Brittany Novotny was running against homophobic Rep. Sally Kern, I felt that if it were close, Brittany looked like she was building a lead, or was running away with it, out would come the transphobia.

Well, one of those three conditions must be occurring in the Oklahoma legislative race, because the transphobic hate is flowing from the alleged 'christians' in the Kern camp.

***

Rep. Kern Supporters Begin Personal Attacks

Oklahoma City, OK – The Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee (OCPAC), longtime supporters, contributors and allies of Representative Sally Kern have begun personally attacking Kern’s opponent in the race for House District 84.

In an e-mail to OCPAC members on Sept. 7, 2010, Charlie Meadows, OCPAC founder, personally attacked Rep. Kern’s opponent, Brittany Novotny, calling her “a confused ‘it’” and accused Novotny of having “hatred toward God.”

In addition to attacking Novotny, Meadows also raised questions about the character of Oklahoma voters.

“In November, we will see which set of values the voters in HD 84 care most about,” Meadows said. “Remember, all elections are first about the quality and character of the voters.”

Novotny said she believes this election should be about solutions—not personal attacks.

“If Rep. Kern and her allies spent as much time focusing on Oklahoma’s future as they seem to spend worrying about my past, maybe we could keep teachers in the classroom and rebuild our crumbling infrastructure,” Novotny said. “This type of personal attack is what Oklahomans are tired of, and it shows why Kern and her political allies continue to be out of touch with mainstream Oklahoma values.”

Novotny said statements claiming she has “hatred toward God” are ridiculous. Novotny attends services at United Church of Christ.

OCPAC is a state-level political action committee led by Charlie Meadows, who founded the group in 1999 after meeting for several years with friends in a group called “the Right of Rush Bunch.” Since 2006, OCPAC has made a concerted effort to defeat moderate Republicans it believes to be “Republican in Name Only.” OCPAC has contributed $2,250 to Rep. Kern in the last two election cycles, and voted her their “Outstanding Lawmaker of the Year” in 2005.

***


Y'all know what to do. Help Brittany win and drop a buck or two toward her campaign. If you're fortunate enough to live in her district, vote for her on November 2.

Kolakowski For Judge September 14 Oakland Event

TransGriot Note: Announcement from Superior Court judicial candidate Victoria Kolakowski.

Make sure to save the date! Our big Oakland event will be on Tuesday, September 14 starting at 5:30 p.m. PDT at Shashamane (2507 Broadway, where Mix It Up East Bay meets)

It's hosted by Board of Equalization Chair Betty Yee, Assemblymember Sandre Swanson, Oakland City Attorney John Russo, Oakland Councilmember Ignacio De La Fuente, Peralta College District President Abel Guillen, Frieda Edgette, Richard Fuentes, Edie Irons, Michael Lighty and the California Nurses Association, Molly McKay and Dr. Davina Kotulski, Rebecca Saltzman, and Sean Sullivan. And there is still time to join the host committee!

RSVP to the campaign at (510) 465-2988 or e-mail events@kolakowskiforjudge.com. Donations may be made securely online at http://kolakowskiforjudge.com/

For more info, visit the Facebook event.

Dr. Dana Beyer Legislative Race Update

TransGriot is keeping a close eye on our trans candidates this election cycle as they attempt to make trailblazing history on November 2.

Dr. Dana Beyer is one of those candidates, and she's running in the Maryland House of Delegates District 18 race.

Just to give you TransGriot readers an idea of how it is set up, the Maryland House of Delegates has 141 members that are selected from 47 districts throughout the state. Each district elects three members.

Early voting started September 3 in Maryland and in advance of it, Dr. Beyer got some excellent news. She received a major endorsement from the Washington Post in their August 23 analysis of the various Maryland House of Delegates races.

District 18 (Wheaton, Kensington and Chevy Chase)

Two strong challengers are worthy of support: Dana Beyer, a retired physician and former aide to County Council member Duchy Trachtenberg; and Vanessa Atterbeary, an attorney who serves on the Montgomery County Commission for Women. Both are Purple Line supporters who are better attuned to the district's mix of affluent and working-class residents.

That was followed up by an endorsement from her local newspaper, the Gazette:

Dana Beyer, a retired eye surgeon whose crystal-clear views on everything from the state budget to transportation are refreshing compared to experienced politicians who too often regurgitate tired party line statements, deserves the third seat. Beyer favors a zero-based budgeting process, a public health option, federal funding for Metro and incentives to encourage the development and use of energy-saving technology, all positions relevant to her constituency.

Could this time finally be the charm for Dr. Dana? Sure hope so.

A GOP Rat In This Harris County Voting Machine Warehouse Fire?

Friday night at approximately 4 AM CDT the warehouse in which Harris County's 10,000 eSlate voting machines are stored mysteriously went up in flames and has county officials scrambling to find replacements for those machines before the October 18 startup date for early voting.

As of yet there hasn't been any announced cause for the fire, but there are a lot of things percolating below the surface of this that are making thinking individuals here in H-town go hmmm.

*The GOP controls the voter registration apparatus in Harris County and much of county government. Paul Bettencourt, the previous registrar was more concerned with nitpickingly purging the voter rolls as fast as peeps registered.

*Leo Vasquez, the current registrar lost in the GOP primary to an Anglo,and he's trying to prove in the limited time he has left in that position he's more 'conservative than thou.'

*As the largest city in the state, Houston and Harris County's 1.9 million registered voters provide about 15% of the total votes cast in any Texas statewide race.

*This city and county over the last two election cycles (2006 and 2008) have been ejecting Republicans from control of many of the judgeships and countywide offices.

*In the 2008 presidential election Harris County went blue for President Obama.

Factor into this situation the Harris County Republican Party along with their slimy cohorts at the state and national party have engaged in voter suppression tactics since 1984. It's something that I angrily discovered during that Reagan-Mondale presidential election year.

To add more intriguing food for thought to this political stew, a new right wing group in town suddenly starts singing the usual GOP song and dance about 'voter irregularities' and 'voter fraud'. Translation: their code words for 'too many non-white people and 'libruls' exercising their right to vote.'

Since ACORN isn't around for the conservafools to attack, their faux outrage has fallen upon a group called Houston Votes with Leo Vasquez claiming 'fraud' as well. Houston Votes called them on it.

We have a governor's race in which Rick Perry had a bitterly contested March three way GOP primary with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson and teabagger Debra Medina that left many Hutchinson supporters with bruised feelings and reportedly Sen. Hutchinson herself pissed at Perry.

The Democratic nominee for governor in this cycle is former Houston mayor Bill White, who during his 2005 and 2007 mayoral campaigns captured an astounding 91% and 86.5% respectively of Houstonians votes.

White has attracted some support from Republicans tired of Governor Goodhair's occupation of the governor's mansion ever since Junior departed for Washington in 2001 and pissed over the primary results.

If you were a GOP strategist deathly afraid that an increased Houston turnout combined with other urban areas of the state and a pissed off Latino vote would be enough to make Bill White the first Democratic governor in the state since the late Ann Richards won in 1990, since we know the GOP will do anything to win an election, I could see someone in their ranks saying burn, baby, burn to that voting machine warehouse in order to attempt to depress the number of precincts available for voting in POC areas.

But I definitely smell a rat, and what kind of rat we'll find out later.

Welcome back home to Texas politics, Moni.

Theresa Sparks For Six Campaign Kickoff Event Today

Hmm, seems like this election cycle has seen more activity than ever before from trans candidates running for elective office.

Since you know I believe it's past time we started getting our own peeps elected to public office, I'm proud to make you aware of another trans person you'll be scouring the November 2 election news for the results of her political race.

The folks in the Bay Area already know who she is, but say hello rest of the nation and loyal TransGriot readers to Theresa Sparks.

If the name sounds familiar to you, she was the former President of the San Francisco Police Commission board in addition to being very active in the local community there.

She's running to represent District 6 on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and is jumping off her campaign for that position with a kickoff event starting at 10 AM-12 Noon PDT at the Passion Café.

The address is 28 6th Street in San Francisco, CA.

Theresa commented on her FB page about her campaign:

'This campaign is about making history and more about helping to move San Francisco forward. This campaign is about jobs, the economy and helping to rebuild the City without sacrificing the values that make San Francisco great.'

You can keep up with her campaign with the Sparks for 6 FB page or her website.

Good luck Theresa and may you add the title of Supervisor to your list of accomplishments on November 2.

Trans Woman Running For Judge In California

One of the things I have long been adamant about is that qualified trans people need to begin running for public office.

In this political cycle we already have two people running for their state legislatures in Oklahoma and Maryland.

Victoria Kolakowski is seeking to make elective history as well. However she wishes to do so as the first transgender trial court judge.

She's running for Alameda County Superior Court judge, and while Kolakowski is cognizant she'll be making history if she's triumphant this November, she wants Alameda County voters to focus on her 21 years of judicial experience.

She has served as a private practice attorney, a corporate attorney and a current administrative law judge for the California Public Utilities Commission.

"It's not like I'm going to be elected and be 'the transgender judge," she said in a SF Gate interview. "If I'm not going to be able to represent the entire community or have the skills for the job, I don't want people to vote for me."

In California's June 16 primary Kolakowski came close to winning outright. She earned 67,000 votes, 45 percent of the total. Since she didn't get the 50% she needed to win, she is a fall runoff with John Creighton, who picked up 22% of the vote.

If you want to learn more about her or donate to her campaign, you can check out her website.

Best of luck, Victoria. I hope you get the opportunity to serve the residents of Alameda County and make history at the same time.

The Democratic Wing Of The Democratic Party Speaks

While I was keeping an eye on the Kentucky US Senate race Democratic primary won by Jack Conway, the mayor's race, Mile Slaton's bid to unseat a 20 year Kentucky House incumbent and a few other ones back in Da Ville, there were also primary elections taking place in Arkansas, Oregon and Pennsylvania.

There was a major upset in Pennsylvania as five time Senator Arlen Specter, now running as a Democrat, was beaten by two term Congressman Joe Sestak. Another DINO, Sen. Blanche Lincoln, who was one of my SUF Award winners, was forced into a June 8 runoff with Arkansas lieutenant governor Bill Halter.

The Democrats also ran their record in House special elections to 7-0 since 2008 by keeping the PA-12 House seat of the late John Murtha. The RSCC spent $1 million in the losing effort.

So what does all this mean going into the November elections?

There has been too much punditry TV time and hot air expended on the Tea Klux Klan, who are only 18% of the population, predominately white, have racist elements of it and is heavily Republican. Teabaggers have failed to win in two House races in New York and the aforementioned PA-12 race.

There's also been too much pontificating about the Democrats losing both houses of Congress. The party in control of the White House generally loses seats in a midterm election, but I'm not buying the 40 plus numbers the pundit class is talking about.

I point out that in the 1998 'Angry Black Vote' midterm election, the Democrats thanks to African-American anger over the BS Clinton impeachment launched by Newt Gingrich and GOP company, gained five seats after losing control of Congress in 1994.

It's a nice segue into my next point. As I remind people every election cycle, don't sleep on the Black vote. As Dr. King presciently predicted, it has become a decisive factor in national elections.

The incessant 'take our country back' rhetoric from the Tea Klux Klan and the GOP is only causing African-American voters to circle November 2 on the calendar in red ink. African American voters will do their part to be out in force that day to ensure President Obama has a Congress he can work with.

I suspect Latino voters will be energized this fall as well to throw the Republican bums out after the series of Hate on Latino unjust laws recently passed in Hateizona.

The bigger message the inside the Beltway punditry peeps are missing is this: the liberal-progressive wing is in this fight as well, and we don't want to see a return to power of the people and party who created the mess in the first place.

But the final message sent last night was for the DINO's, and they ignore it at their political peril.

Democrats from the Democratic wing of the Democratic party elect Democrats to Congress to fight for ordinary citizens, not corporations. Corporations are already well represented by the GOP, they don't need any more help.

It's time for DINO's to start being FDR Democrats and not corporate Democrats. It's time for Democrats to relentlessly fight for our values, principles and policy objectives, not be Neville Chamberlainesque appeasers and water down stuff before the legislative process even gets started.

The Democratic wing of the Democratic Party spoke loudly and clearly last night, and the peeps inside I-495 better be listening.

At any rate, looks like this midterm election season will be anything but a quiet one.

Go Get Your Vote On!

There are primary elections in several states today, and if you reside in one of them, time for you to take a few moments out of your day and participate.

Voting is not just for racist GOP leaning teabaggers, it is your voice for way of changing the status quo. When you are part of a minority group, sitting out an election is NEVER an option.

So take the first steps in ensuring an idiot free Congress. Go to your nearest polling place and get your vote on.



And if you need some motivation, here's the Isley Brothers 'Fight The Power' to get you in the mood for doing so.

If you need more motivation than that, remember the Tea Klux Klan will be motivated to vote not only in the primary, but wants to put the same GOP do nothings back in power that caused our country's problems in the first place.

So go handle your civic business. Your city, your state and your country will thank you for it later.

Sitting Out An Election Is Not An Option

I read the post from Paula Brooks of Lez Get Real urging GLBT people in Massachusetts to sit out today's US Senate special election, between Martha Coakley and Scott Brown and I have a few things to say about that.

Are you fracking crazy? It is never a smart play for a minority group to sit out an election.

I don't care how mad or upset you get with the party hierarchy, or couch your displeasure with 'tough love' rhetoric, you're not 'punishing them' by sitting out the election, you're punishing yourselves.

I have to chuckle and shake my head in sadness at the fact that once again, white fauxgressive GLBT people wallowing in vanilla flavored privilege are falling for the okey-doke from Republifools like Brown and acting against their own economic and political interests because they're 'mad' at President Obama and the Democratic Party.

Yeah, right. You white gays are pissed off because the Prez hasn't done what you wanted him to do in one year on the job and supports civil unions but not marriage.

Hello..we were on the brink of a depression when he took office. Let's also not forget that Obama is still cleaning up the mess from Dubya's toxic waste of a presidency.

And let's get real, you're still hatin' on him because he beat Sen. Hillary Clinton, the HRC endorsed candidate in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary.

He's the president that SIGNED hate crimes legislation and made it the law of the land and will sign ENDA when it hits his desk.

It's also time to smell the legislative coffee and deal with the reality that permanently repealing DOMA requires CONGRESSIONAL action, not an executive order. If Congress doesn't pass that DOMA repeal legislation, it can't appear on his desk to sign it.

Frankly, while I'm in favor of marriage equality, I still believe that making it the lead GLBT issue was a colossal mistake. It has slowed the positive forward momentum the GLBT community built up with the previous strategy of passing comprehensive rights laws. It has wasted precious time, resources and treasure on a issue that isn't going to benefit the vast majority of GLBT people, and only serves as a intersectional organizing and fundraising mechanism for the Sacreligious Reich.

You peeps like Paula Brooks who are advocating sitting out today's election got it wrong. If you vote in today's election, you INCREASE your leverage. If your votes are the ones that allow Martha Coakley to finish out the late Ted Kennedy's senate term, it's a little difficult for Senator Coakley to ignore GLBT issues if its shown that GLBT voters were the ones that put her over the top.

My observation that it's never a smart play to sit out an election comes from bitter experience.

Back in 1994 we African descended Texans were pissed about minor disagreements we were having with Gov. Ann Richards administration and the same 'sit out the election to teach them a lesson' call went out.

The problem was that call went out in the same year of the 'Angry White Male midterms'. Our sitting out that 1994 election cycle in the face of an energized GOP leaning electorate paved the way for George W. Bush to be elected governor of Texas, and halted the progressive cleanup of the mess the previous Republican governor left behind.

The only reason we kept anti GLBT and anti civil rights legislation at bay in the 90's was Democratic control of the Texas House, where we killed bad legislation in committee. Us sitting out the 1994 cycle narrowed the Dem advantage in the Texas House to a scant six seats and put the GOP in a position to illegally buy their way into a majority in 2002.

We also lost the $2.5 billion budget surplus that Gov. Richards had painstakingly built up over her term after inheriting a $6 billion budget deficit. In my home county it cost us the seats of every sitting African-American judge as well.

How many times will white gay peeps continue to fail to get the message that voting for anti-GLBT rights Republicans because you're 'mad at Democrats' or sitting out elections is a politically delusional act?

If that wording is harsh, then what would you call letting someone into political office who hates the GLBT community as Scott Brown does and giving them the power to negatively impact it?

Damned sure wouldn't call it 'smart politics'.

If African American and other GLBT peeps of color know that Republicans are not our friends, will fight tooth and nail to see they DON'T get elected, and under any circumstances will not vote for them, why haven't y'all gotten that message?

And that's keeping it real for you vanilla flavored GLBT peeps who agree with Lez Get Real.

Sitting out an election is not an option.