Making America great — for everyone

It’s been quite a week for police news.

The lead story Wednesday on the front page of the San Antonio Express-News was headlined, “Trump says S.A.’s mayor should be feeling shame.”

The reference, of course, was to a phalanx of San Antonio police who were assigned to guard Trump during a recent fundraising trip here.

Until you talk to your daughters, you have no idea

Normally I don’t use this forum to comment on national events or controversies.

They draw plenty of comment without me.

Besides, San Antonio and Texas offer fertile fields that are much less plowed.

But now comes the release of the extraordinary tape in which Donald Trump is caught celebrating the fact, he says, that as a “star” he can do anything he wants with women without fear of retribution, including grabbing their crotches.

But I’m not here to talk about Trump.

Voter fraud and suppression are Texas traditions

In this year’s controversy over Texas’ voter ID laws are met two of the state’s great electoral traditions.

One is the suppression of votes of minority citizens.

The other is election fraud.

Texas House District 118 race

This week we begin our election-year tradition of interviewing candidates in competitive races on the November ballot.

In January, Republican John Lujan surprised many by winning a special election for state representative in the traditionally Democratic South Side House District 118. Now he faces Democrat Tomas Uresti, a member of a powerful political family. They face each other on our set.

Should we be scared of Syrians moving to Texas?

Whenever Gov. Greg Abbott, Sen. Ted Cruz or presidential nominee Donald Trump warns of the dangers of admitting Syrian refugees into Texas and the United States, a curious thing happens to me.

I hear in my head the national anthem.

A swell of patriotism?

No, a clang of irony. I’ll explain in a bit.

How election laws require some logistic gymnastics

At least twice a decade I’m glad I’m not Jackie Callenen.

This year, I’m particularly glad.

Callenen is in charge of running the November election, in which more than half a million citizens of Bexar County will help elect a president, five members of the House of Representatives, 11 members of the Texas Legislature, 14 judges, a sheriff and a few other officials.

I am not foolish enough to predict who will win all these offices, but I will predict this:

The mechanics of the election will not go perfectly.

Kaine says he and Clinton taking Texas seriously

Vice-presidential candidate Tim Kaine visited Austin this week and stirred the hearts of some Democratic activists by telling them that he and Hillary take Texas seriously.

"This team, the Clinton-Kaine team, we are serious about Texas," Kaine said, speaking to a gathering of about 300 local campaign officials and volunteers.

"We are very serious because we know the kind of work that you do.”

The Texas Tribune reported that he amplified the thought:

Man of COPs fame eyes Texas Legislature

Ernesto Cortes is the man who 40 years ago built Communities Organized for Public Services, or COPS, into one of the most powerful community organizations in the U.S. Since then, Cortes has organized similar organizations that have won victories throughout the U.S. West. Now he’s initiating another ambitious effort — a statewide coalition to alter the political currents of the Texas Legislature.

Two Democrats in runoff to challenge sheriff

Four years ago, Republican Susan Pamerleau won election as the first female sheriff in Bexar County. She had no opponent in the Republican primary. Now two Democrats are in a runoff to challenge Pamerleau in November.

Early voting begins Monday and election day is a week from Tuesday. Both Democrats are veteran law enforcement officers and they are here this week to talk about the race.

Fallout from Super Tuesday elections

In two high-profile races, San Antonians voted by large margins on Super Tuesday to keep House Speaker Joe Straus over a more militant Republican challenger and State Sen. Jose Menendez over a more moderate Democratic challenger. Hear from political gurus Christian Archer and Kelton Morgan these primary races and others.

Why we must keep Paul Green on state's high court

In a few minutes I’m going to tell you why Republicans should vote to keep San Antonian Paul Green on the Texas Supreme Court.

But first, I have a serious bone to pick with him.

Nearly 15 years ago I came back from lunch to my office at the Express-News and was greeted by a voicemail from a respected Republican judge.

He gave me the case number of a lawsuit and said it was under seal.

“You have to break the seal,” he said.

Paxton hits block on raising cash for defense

What do Ken Paxton and Bernie Sanders have in common?

Both lost extremely close votes this week.

The vote regarding Texas Attorney General Paxton wasn’t an election.

It was a decision by the Texas Ethics Commission not to approve an advisory opinion that would have let Paxton or his friends solicit out-of-state contributions to pay his criminal defense lawyers.

Texas House candidate Jeff Judson

Perhaps the most important race on the local ballot is that involving Texas House Speaker Joe Straus.

He has two opponents. One, former teacher Sheila Bean, has raised little money and does not appear to be heavily campaigning. The other, Jeff Judson, has a much broader political background and is a member of the state Republican Executive Committee.

In this first of a series, we meet with Judson.

Get a preview of what you, as a voter, will face as we kick off the new year. Hear about key local races from two political professionals, Republican Kelton Morgan and Democrat Christian Archer.

Man's execution could haunt Perry | Last Word

In his quest to become president, former Gov. Rick Perry must vanquish the phantom of the cabinet department he wanted to kill – but couldn’t remember.

That was his legendary “oops!” moment.

A story in this week’s Washington Post raises the very real possibility he may have to deal with another ghost – the ghost of Cameron Todd Willingham.

Willingham is the Corsicana man who was executed in 2004 for killing his three children by setting his house on fire while they slept.

Perry’s record as governor is tightly intertwined with the Willingham saga.

A month before Willingham’s execution, Perry was sent a report by an Austin-based scientist and arson expert.

The expert, Dr. Gerald Hurst, had reviewed the evidence and the testimony presented at trial by arson investigators.

He concluded that despite the confidant testimony of two arson investigators – one local and one from the state fire marshal’s office – there was no evidence that the tragic fire was caused by arson.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s indictment | Aug. 22, 2014

Last week's indictment of Texas Gov. Rick Perry is being called a political persecution by his Republican allies and flimsy by even some Democrats and liberal media. We delve into the controversy with two top Austin reporters who have been covering the story. And Evan Smith, Editor-in-Chief of the Texas Tribune, talks about the national political theater the indictment has provoked.